Day 207 - 23 Jan 96 - Page 69
1 know, no further additions have been made.
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That would be admissible under the Civil
4 Evidence Act, would it not, as a record of matters which
5 the person making it had a duty to make or not?
6
7 MR. RAMPTON: About three weeks ago, I would have said yes.
8 I am not so sure now.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can we not work on the basis that unless and
11 until there is some evidence to the contrary -----
12
13 MR. RAMPTON: That is right. Anybody who reads that
14 records -----
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That kind of employee record we can assume to
17 be a fair record of what happened.
18
19 MR. RAMPTON: Yes. I suppose that is right. In Mr. Perret's
20 case, of course, he will be giving evidence, so the
21 Defendants will be able to ask him about it.
22
23 MR. MORRIS: I only picked one out at random. I was not going
24 to ask any specific questions.
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You work on the basis that the employee
27 records are accurate, save where we hear some direct
28 evidence to the contrary.
29
30 MR. MORRIS: OK. I will not ask any questions about them now
31 anyway.
32
33 My last questions, I believe. There are other matters in
34 the rap session notes which I would like to put to
35 Mr. Logan, as long as Mr. Rampton does not object; that
36 will save me having to ask this witness.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. I do not think there is -- we will see
39 what happens when we come to that. I cannot see any point
40 on that at the moment, Mr. Rampton. You have made your
41 point about the admissibility of what is on the record as
42 evidence of the truth of what is recorded.
43
44 MR. RAMPTON: If there were counsel on the other side, he would
45 no better than to prompt or lead a witness by reference to
46 documents to which he is not a party, to the events they
47 described to which he is not a party. It would save an
48 enormous amount of time. It may not improve the value of
49 Mr. Logan's evidence if, instead of asking Mr. Logan the
50 questions, Mr. Morris just, as it were, shows him the
51 documents and asks him whether that is his experience.
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. When we come to Mr. Logan, we will work
54 out any problem we face then. So far as Mr. Henden is
55 concerned, you need not put any more.
56
57 MR. MORRIS: Right. Let me see if there are any further
58 questions.
59
60 MS. STEEL: Can I just ask you briefly to look at page 256 in
