Day 041 - 28 Oct 94 - Page 64
1 go and get legal advice, or anything like that, and
2 preparing for recycling and waste, in particular-----
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think we need to say how we go. That is an
5 opportunity for me to make this comment. It really relates
6 to something Mr. Morris said a moment or two ago. If
7 Mr. Hawkes, having taken half a day giving his
8 evidence-in-chief, you do need one and a half days to
9 cross-examine in, then so be it. But the mere fact that
10 someone is put in for two days does not mean that he has to
11 take two days.
12
13 MR. MORRIS: I certainly did not mean to imply that-----
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not think you did, no, but I am making
16 the point. If, for instance, Mr. Hawkes were to finish --
17 I am not suggesting he will -- at the end of day one or
18 after one and a half days, since no-one else is going to be
19 immediately slipped in, the next step will be Mr. Green on
20 the next day. You pick up half a day there which you can
21 use, if you choose, as an extra half day in getting ready
22 for the future.
23
24 When we come to the week after next, if Mr. Miles has
25 finished, for instance, were to finish on the Friday, you
26 would have the Monday before you started your witnesses; if
27 he were to finish Monday mid-day, you would have Monday
28 afternoon. If your witnesses were to take, two of them, a
29 day each, you would have the Thursday and Friday, for
30 instance.
31
32 So, seeing that there is an arrow through the whole of the
33 rest of that week does not mean that you are not going to
34 get a break before continuing with recycling and waste
35 which we started before we broke off.
36
37 MS. STEEL: I understand that. The only thing is that it is
38 quite possible that it will take that long, and then we
39 will not get a break-----
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, that does not follow. If it does take
42 that long, and I am satisfied that you need a day or two
43 days in order to prepare yourself, I will listen to any
44 application you make in that respect. Inconvenience to a
45 witness who for some time has been put in for Monday,
46 14th November will be a factor which I will take into
47 account, but it will only be one among a number of factors.
48
49 MS. STEEL: There is also another problem which is the thing
50 about having all different files out for different issues
51 at the same time. I mean, we have only limited space
52 and -----
53
54 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Try not to worry about that now. It does
55 show that there is a benefit in getting through witnesses
56 quickly. Apart from the benefit of sheer efficiency, it
57 means that everyone has more opportunity to have a break of
58 however long before we move on to the next witness and the
59 next topic.
60
