Day 067 - 15 Dec 94 - Page 45
1 Q. No.
2 A. I cannot speak for all the years that we have been in
3 operations. I can tell you personally I have not sent the
4 Humane Slaughter Act to our suppliers in the US because I
5 am under the assumption they already have it, and that is
6 their responsibility. We do have some discussion about
7 it. We do discuss the intent of the law -----
8
9 Q. Have you sent it out to anyone else?
10 A. Mr. Morris, you continue to interrupt me.
11
12 Q. Yes, I do want to stick to the point.
13
14 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If you try to keep your answers fairly short,
15 there is less risk of that happening.
16
17 MR. MORRIS: Have you ever sent it to anyone else apart from US
18 suppliers?
19 A. No, I have not.
20
21 Q. So all these people around the world who are, in your
22 theory, meant to comply with the Humane Slaughter Act of
23 the USA, how do they even know it exists and how do they
24 know, if they do know it exists, what it says?
25 A. I thought I answered your question a while ago when you
26 asked me the procedure that we go about approving a
27 supplier. When I talk about it, you can go back to the
28 transcript. I expressly said that we have plenty of
29 discussions, that our suppliers or the new suppliers will
30 visit some of the other suppliers. A lot of our suppliers
31 visit the US -----
32
33 Q. Do you tell them that they must get a copy of the Humane
34 Slaughter Act?
35 A. Sir, I must ask you to give me the courtesy of
36 finishing my answer. I give you the courtesy of asking me
37 and not interrupting. Would that be fair?
38
39 Q. I will try but I am trying to ensure you ------
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am afraid you must try harder. You have
42 done pretty well so far. When Ms. Dibb was giving some
43 very long answers and some long pauses and when Mr. Rampton
44 interrupted or, rather, spoke in one of them, that caused
45 consternation and the same must apply to this witness.
46
47 MR. MORRIS: I am sorry. You carry on and add what you like.
48
49 MS. STEEL: I do not know, to be fair, I think that Ms. Dibb was
50 actually told to answer the questions directly on a number
51 of occasions.
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Let him finish, Mr. Morris.
54
55 THE WITNESS: When we had those discussions prior to the
56 approval process, they come to the US, they spend time with
57 our suppliers. I have spent many days with those suppliers
58 going over all of the regulations, going over all of our
59 policies, and I have never ever approved a supplier to
60 which I feel they do not have the capability of complying
