Day 172 - 12 Oct 95 - Page 29

     
     1        question he cannot answer it except by reference to that
     2        vague feature "common knowledge".  That is that one.
     3
     4   MR. MORRIS:  If all common knowledge is -----
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No, wait.  You are going to have your
     7        opportunity to reply when Mr. Rampton has finished.
     8
     9   MR. RAMPTON:  Perhaps I ought to say this now, to save time:
    10        there are of course certain kinds of common knowledge that
    11        are accepted by the courts, but not common knowledge
    12        relating to factual events at a particular place at a
    13        particular time.  It is common knowledge that the Queen of
    14        England is called Elizabeth II, but that is about as far as
    15        it goes.
    16
    17        I have a problem, also, on page 9, I am afraid, towards the
    18        bottom of paragraph 16.  Again, this may be a question of
    19        weight more than anything else, but I am very suspicious of
    20        it.  It is the penultimate sentence: "Certain people
         developed skin rashes from using cleaning liquids and
    22        regular requests were made to management for gloves, but
    23        they were always declined."  That on its own, anyway, looks
    24        very like reported material, unless he was present on a
    25        regular basis when such requests were made and declined; it
    26        looks very much as though he is reporting what other people
    27        might have said to him.  But then perhaps the thing is
    28        exposed for what it is, once again, on page 3 of the
    29        supplementary statement, when it appears that he did not in
    30        fact witness any such thing, either the skin rashes or the
    31        reporting or the declining, because when he is asked about
    32        it on page 3 under "Chemicals (44)", second paragraph, he
    33        says:  "I cannot remember the names of anyone who got skin
    34        rashes.  It was reported to management but I cannot
    35        remember to whom."  If he had actually witnessed it
    36        happening on a regular basis, sure enough you would
    37        remember both the name of the person who had the rash and
    38        the person in management to whom it was reported; the more
    39        so if the manager had declined the request for gloves.
    40
         There is a passage at the bottom of page 9 in paragraph 17,
    42        which again is argumentative rather than anything else.
    43        Perhaps it does not matter very much.  He says: "....as far
    44        as I am aware there had been major cutbacks in Health
    45        Inspectors...."
    46
    47   MR. MORRIS:  Where are we, sorry?
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  At the bottom of page 9, paragraph 17; it
    50        starts at the bottom. 
    51 
    52   MR. RAMPTON:  After the comma: "....as far as I am aware there 
    53        had been major cutbacks in Health Inspectors and such a
    54        vast increase in the number of fastfood outlets that the
    55        Inspectors could not keep up."  He is not in a position to
    56        give any evidence about that whatsoever.  It is only the
    57        Department of Health or Department of Trade that could give
    58        evidence about that -- or Employment.
    59
    60        My Lord, I have two problems on page 11.  There is not a