Day 064 - 08 Dec 94 - Page 29

     
     1        Mr. Walker, I believe, has been to this plant; I certainly
     2        have not, so I cannot comment on its exact locality or
     3        whether it over-lapped into any rainforest areas.  I,
     4        therefore, suggest that you ask Mr. Walker.  He has been
     5        there.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If Mr. Walker has been there, it might be
     8        more productive, the geographical point, if I can describe
     9        it like that.
    10
    11   MR. MORRIS:  I want to go to the document that was mistakenly
    12        disclosed by the Plaintiffs.
    13
    14   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Are we going to come back to Mr. Walker's
    15        statement?
    16
    17   MR. MORRIS:  No, I think we can forget Mr. Walker.  No,
    18        actually, before we leave the Lord Vesty letter:  At the
    19        bottom of his letter -- if you read that paragraph, is not
    20        the implication that this was something that was going to
         continue?
    22        A.  I do not think so.  It says, "will enable you to again
    23        proper advantage of one of the special import schemes".
    24        I did explain to you earlier, the EC to balance their
    25        stocks in Europe from time to time will allow specific
    26        quotas of beef to come in.  This was one of their special
    27        import schemes.  It is not necessarily ongoing.  If the
    28        beef supply is in balance or over balance, there would not
    29        be a scheme.
    30
    31   Q.   McDonald's restaurants got a special dispensation, or
    32        whatever, to take advantage of this special scheme, yes?
    33        A.  Yes, they did.
    34
    35   Q.   So was that something that took negotiation with the
    36        Customs & Excise?
    37        A.  Between Mr. Walker's company and the Customs & Excise,
    38        yes, not between McDonald's and Customs & Excise.
    39
    40   Q.   But to get licences for your restaurants specifically --
         I believe Mr. Walker says 37 McDonald's restaurants have
    42        licences -- were there negotiations between McDonald's and
    43        the Customs & Excise for those licences?  How were the
    44        licences -----
    45        A.  I certainly was not involved.  I understood that
    46        Mr. Walker carried out all of the negotiations.
    47
    48   Q.   This was something quite unusual, was it, at the time?
    49        A.  It was.
    50 
    51   Q.   A bit of a pioneering --- 
    52        A.  It was, yes. 
    53
    54   Q.   -- thing?  So, might it be fair to say that at that time
    55        your policy was to make active steps to look for importing
    56        beef supplies from outside Europe?
    57        A.  It was not a policy.  But all suppliers would make
    58        active steps to improve the quality and cost of their raw
    59        ingredients.  That is how they stay in business with their
    60        customers.