Haven

This case arises out of a contract by the terms of which plaintiffs employed defendant to buy for them and on their instructions dried fruits and to pack them in his packing-house on Cinnobar Street, in San Jose, at specified charges for the different varieties of fruit. Plaintiffs guaranteed to defendant the packing of one thousand tons of prunes, and agreed to pay defendant $2.50 a ton for any shortage in the prune pack. Defendant was to devote his packing-house exclusively to the work provided for in the contract, and to pack the goods “as well as the regular packing of said party in the past.” The term of the contract was from May 29, 1913, to April 30, 1914. There were other provisions in the contract not necessary to be considered on this appeal. The parties commenced operations under the contract and continued until the nineteenth day of October, 1913, when defendant’s packing-house was destroyed by fire. Within a few days after the fire, defendant tendered to plaintiffs another plant, but objection was made thereto on the ground that the defendant could not have exclusive possession. Thereupon the defendant arranged for the exclusive use of a second plant, known as the “A…