Day 078 - 26 Jan 95 - Page 26

     
     1
     2   Q.   Before, at the time you asked for a letter from Lord Vesty
     3        and, as I understand it, your evidence was you knew where
     4        every Vesty plant in the world was; you were pretty sure
     5        where all the beef came from?
     6        A.  Yes, sir.
     7
     8   Q.   You said you had a conversation with someone else as well?
     9        A.  Yes, sir.
    10
    11   Q.   Who was that?
    12        A.  It would probably have been at that time Ian Kelly or
    13        Peter Bartram.
    14
    15   MR. MORRIS:  You said here -----
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is that which Mr. Morris is testing.
    18
    19   MR. MORRIS:  It says here:  "Our man in Canada is very ethical
    20        and not one who would lie to the President of the World
         Wildlife Association".  Why did you say that?
    22        A.  I do not know at this time why I said that in that
    23        year.
    24
    25   Q.   Had you spoken to him or had you seen a document which he
    26        had written to the World Wildlife Fund or what?
    27        A.  No, I do not think so at that time.  I certainly had
    28        not spoken to George Cohon.
    29
    30   Q.   ".. and the whole matter has now got to the desk of
    31        Fred Turner".  So, there was some chain that involved
    32        George Cohon, the World Wildlife Association, Prince Philip
    33        and the President of McDonald's, Chairman of McDonald's,
    34        Fred Turner, but you had not seen any of those -----
    35        A.  No.  As a meat man, knowing the commercial situation
    36        and the price of beef in Brazil and the price of beef in
    37        Australia -- and I am speaking now having reread these
    38        letters after all these years -- I would have taken a
    39        commercial decision, and until Mr. Rhea started flagging
    40        up, if I may use that cliche, "We do not want Brazilian
         beef", I would not have understood the reasons why.  Once
    42        I was told that it was a matter of rainforest and it had
    43        gone all the way through Canada to Oak Brook, I would
    44        immediately have started getting clearance to back up
    45        knowledge which I had.
    46
    47   Q.   When you started you were not aware of any problems over
    48        Brazil or ex-rainforest beef, but when you heard that there
    49        was a political dispute and row and an edict from Head
    50        Office, what evidence did you have at that time, when you 
    51        continued to press for the Brazilian supplies, for example 
    52        in this letter, or what assurance from anybody at 
    53        McDonald's did you have at that time, on the actual sources
    54        of the beef at that you were going to be purchasing?
    55        A.  At that time I would have based it purely on my
    56        knowledge of the meat markets of the world.  I know about
    57        the Argentinian pampas and the Paraguay River plateau and
    58        I know about were Barretos is.  I mean, that would just
    59        have been knowledge.
    60