Day 114 - 04 Apr 95 - Page 02


     
     1   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I have just been handed a document.  It
     2        calls itself the Farm Animal Welfare Council Report on the
     3        Welfare of Livestock (Red Meat Animals) at the time of
     4        Slaughter.  It is 77 pages in length.  I do not know where
     5        it came from.  It is covered in markings.  Mr. Morris tells
     6        me that he only received it last night.  I do not know
     7        whether and if so what references are to be made to it in
     8        the course of Dr. Long's evidence.  Without some very good
     9        explanation why it has not been disclosed before this
    10        witness was called, before my experts on rearing and
    11        slaughter were called, I would ask your Lordship to do what
    12        your Lordship once threatened to do which is now exclude
    13        it.
    14
    15   MS. STEEL:  If it is of any assistance, this document was
    16        actually referred to by Dr. Gregory.  It is the one that
    17        lists the 100 recommendations.  He did actually refer to it
    18        on a number of occasions during his evidence.
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, but why was it not produced if you want
    21        to refer to it?
    22
    23   MR. MORRIS:  The first time I ever saw it was yesterday when
    24        Dr. Long gave it to us in the morning.  I did not have time
    25        to read it until the evening when I realised this is
    26        actually the document referred to, as far as I can see, in
    27        the London Greenpeace fact sheet, the subject of the
    28        action.  It is a public document.  It has been referred to
    29        in the case.  Basically, we have disclosed it at the
    30        earliest available opportunity.  I had it yesterday morning
    31        but I could not copy it, Mr. Rampton.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can I say again (because I have said it many
    34        times before), the fact that a document is what you call "a
    35        public document" is neither here nor there.  If it is an
    36        Act of Parliament or a regulation, clearly, I can be
    37        referred to it at any stage right out of the blue because
    38        it is a matter of law which I have to decide, but it does
    39        not matter that a document is public in the sense that it
    40        has been produced by a government department or some
    41        particularly respectable body.
    42
    43        The fact that it has been referred to by an earlier
    44        witness, in fact, one might think is the best ground for
    45        getting hold of it earlier rather than later.
    46
    47   MR. MORRIS:  The Plaintiffs could have done that.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I might be tempted to do what Mr. Rampton
    50        asked me were it not that -- I should be entirely candid -- 
    51        that I have been waiting and have thought to ask on 
    52        occasions, but it has probably just slipped my mind, what 
    53        the recent British government report was which is referred
    54        to at the beginning of the fourth subparagraph under:  "In
    55        what way are McDonald's responsible for torture and
    56        murder?"  What is the date of the FAWC report you have
    57        there?
    58
    59   MR. MORRIS:  The FAWC report -----
    60

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