Day 106 - 23 Mar 95 - Page 34
1 down, Mr. North. Have you finished reading that?
2
3 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
4
5 MR. JUSTICE BELL: From my independent aspect, with no axe to
6 grind on one side or the other, what it occurs to me is
7 that you have so keen on getting discovery of this, that or
8 the other, you have not really focused at all on what your
9 own witness can say on the basis of the documentary
10 material which you do have.
11
12 For all I know, Mr. North, if you showed him the
13 documentary material which you do have, would be able to
14 give evidence on the basis of that. He might say: "Well,
15 there ought to be this document and it would be helpful to
16 see this document for this reason", or for all I know he
17 might say: "Well, the documentation you have got is quite
18 sufficient for me to draw conclusions one way or another on
19 the areas upon which I can usefully give evidence".
20
21 At the moment, I really do think you ought to be focusing
22 on that before you come to ask yourself: "Well, is there
23 other documentation which we can usefully ask for which
24 will be relevant to an issue in the case"?
25
26 MR. MORRIS: Mr. North has read the transcripts of Mr. Walker's
27 evidence as regards McKey's. I am really confused now. I
28 do not know. I feel like I just do not know what to do
29 next at all and how to do it.
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am conscious I am entering into the arena
32 but, quite frankly, Mr. North is a potentially important
33 witness from your point of view, whatever I make of his
34 evidence at the end of the day. I think we should spend a
35 few minutes now, with Mr. Rampton's assistance, if he is
36 prepared to help in that way, identifying the documents and
37 where they are, so that as they are identified Mr. North
38 can -- if you do not mind, Mr. North -- just pull down the
39 volume and see whether he actually has seen it and flag it,
40 if need be. Then we can take stock of where to go next.
41
42 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, can I give some indicators?
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, what I suggest is you let Mr. Rampton
45 identify -----
46
47 MR. RAMPTON: I will only give some indicators. If the
48 defendants think I have missed something out I have put
49 something which is wrong, let them by all means say so. So
50 far as McKey are concerned, I would suggest that the
51 important documents are the microbiological specification
52 which -- I am now in file pink VIII.
53
54 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you mind getting pink VIII down? I am
55 afraid this may be laborious but it will probably save time
56 at the end of the day.
57
58 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, the first important document or,
59 arguably, important, depending on how one sees the effect
60 of counting the total viable colonies, is at tab 3 which
