Day 242 - 29 Apr 96 - Page 23
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2 MR. MORRIS: And that Co-Ope Montecillos, their supplier, has
3 said that the three regions that supply McDonald's were
4 deforested in the 50s and 60s -- they said that on January
5 30th 1992, Juan Sequeira -- in your opinion, bearing in
6 mind also what David Rose has said ------
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, just put it in that form. You have to
9 put your premise because if you say "bearing in mind what
10 someone has said", I do not know what the premise is
11 because I do not know whether it is acceptable or not until
12 I decide it. It is much easier if you say "supposing", as
13 in fact you started to do, "most of McDonald's farms", for
14 want of a better term, "were deforested in the 1950s and
15 1960s", then you ask your question.
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17 MR. MORRIS: Yes. (To the witness): Because of what you
18 called, I think, the deforestation frenzy in the 70s, do
19 you think that would have applied, from all the information
20 that you have heard, to farms supplying McDonald's?
21 A. There is no reason to suppose that it would not have
22 applied -- forgive the tortured phrasing, but .....
23
24 Q. I think you have lost your thread a bit; you have certainly
25 lost me.
26 A. Well, let me rephrase it. There is no evidence that
27 would indicate that it would be impossible for it to have
28 applied -- in the absence of direct evidence that it did
29 apply and neither is there evidence that it could not have
30 applied.
31
32 Q. What applied?
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34 MR. MORRIS: The deforestation on those farms that were
35 established in the 50s and that were supplying McDonald's
36 would have continued into the 1970s, as indeed David Rose
37 had indicated?
38 A. The deforestation continued, clearly.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, you have lost me completely.
41
42 MR. MORRIS: OK.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: As I understand it, the premise is that they
45 were deforested in the 1950s and 1960s.
46
47 MR. MORRIS: That is admitted.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, but then what are you asking
50 Dr. Carriere from that platform?
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52 MR. MORRIS: Bearing in mind that he said that the established
53 ranches would have continued deforesting for a period after
54 they were established, so they contain forests, and that
55 the extent of the deforestation that occurred in the 1970s
56 -- I mean, we can just leave it as a matter of argument at
57 the end of the case, if you like. I think we have all the
58 information in front of us.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Is there anything else?
