Day 248 - 13 May 96 - Page 57
1 practice for people to be released to go to funerals. Just
2 to say that is not going to be a day of preparation, and
3 that we do need days of preparation.
4
5 We are not trying to make a joke of this, we are taking it
6 seriously. We are trying to go as fast as we can, but at
7 the same time we want to present the best case we can. It
8 is a very difficult case. It is very unusual because of
9 the diverse range of issues, and the diverse number of
10 incidents that are being argued in court. It would be a
11 complicated case even for a lawyer, but in terms of for a
12 litigant in person it must be probably the most complicated
13 case ever and I would just hope that people could
14 understand that it is, you know, difficult for us if we
15 have to be in court every day and do not get preparation
16 time.
17
18 The point of saying that is because I do not want the court
19 to think we are treating this as a joke.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not think anything I said on Friday
22 suggested you were not taking the case seriously. I do not
23 think it would be productive for me to add anything.
24 I think you can fairly proceed with Mr. Nicholson tomorrow
25 morning and that is what I would like to do.
26
27 MR. MORRIS: Before we rise, there is another statement which we
28 will put a Civil Evidence Act notice on. It was one of
29 Ms. Fiona Watson's statement, a handwritten letter, from
30 some indigenous people in Brazil, that were talking about
31 dispossession of their land. It was in Portuguese and she
32 translated it for us. We can hand that up. It should go
33 behind her statement (handed). It is the Kaiowa letter to
34 Survival International. I am sorry I have not got the
35 place.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not worry, I will find it in the
38 appropriate pale blue bundle, and if I have any doubt about
39 it I will put it behind what I believe to be the original,
40 and if I have any doubt about what that is I will ask you
41 about it.
42
43 MR. MORRIS: Thank you very much.
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: 10.30.
46
47 (The court adjourned until the following day at 10.30 a.m.)
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