Day 140 - 22 Jun 95 - Page 44
1 She has already put to you what she believes common sense
2 dictates what that means, but I would put it to you that
3 that is an absolute fundamental point in evaluating what
4 the truth of the PUP survey is, is what dates the actual
5 starting -- or you have put entry rates, which are
6 different -- but starting rates of the wages that were
7 being investigated by TPF & C; and that does not appear in
8 this document except for in that line about "May".
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Mr. Morris, the position is this: I have the
11 point that the summary is written in the present tense.
12 There are two aspects to that: first of all, whether I am
13 to accept Mr. Stein's evidence -- and I do not know what
14 other evidence I will get, apart from the documentation
15 I have been directed to at the moment -- whether I should
16 accept Mr. Stein's evidence that, albeit it is written in
17 the present tense, the relevant rates of starting pay were
18 those which prevailed in the last two months of 1989 or
19 ones which prevailed at the time the inquiries were sent
20 out and answered, i.e., around July 1990.
21
22 The second point is, even if I thought that Mr. Stein was
23 in error about that -- at the moment, all I say is "in
24 error" -- I would have to consider whether his evidence is
25 reliable that there had been no conscious manipulative
26 change to the rates between the end of 1989 and the middle
27 of 1990. Now, I have got that.
28
29 You can direct me to anything in this in argument which you
30 think helps the matter. If there is a question of fact you
31 want to put, or another document, or something from what
32 you anticipate the evidence of any witness (live or Civil
33 Evidence Act) will be, then please do so. But I have got
34 the argument.
35
36 MR. MORRIS: You mentioned the Glen Berkin survey which is the
37 report from The Philadelphia Enquirer?
38 A. Yes.
39
40 Q. The Philadelphia Enquirer is one of the main quality papers
41 in the United States, is it not?
42 A. Do not ask me to verify that.
43
44 Q. Is it a paper of record in the United States which means
45 that it has an authority, a legal authority, in the courts,
46 the material that is produced in The Philadelphia Enquirer?
47 A. It is it a corporation in the United States?
48
49 Q. Is it a paper of record?
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have to say, I am not helped by this.
52
53 MR. MORRIS: OK.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There are some eminent journalists who write
56 for tabloids, and I read some things in a paper of record
57 which I know to be wrong. It cannot help me eventually
58 here. I have to go deeper than that.
59
60 MR. MORRIS: I understand that. It is just a paper or record in
