Day 058 - 30 Nov 94 - Page 22


     
     1   MR. RAMPTON:  I had it in mind to make an intervention such as
     2        your Lordship had just made anyway.  I have been doing some
     3        mathematics.  Your Lordship has noticed the parenthetical
     4        reference to "the need for 800 square miles of forest to
     5        keep McDonald's supplied with paper for one year."   At the
     6        bottom of that column in the leaflet it says this:  "It is
     7        no exaggeration to say that when you bite into a Big Mac
     8        you are helping the McDonald's empire to wreck this
     9        planet".
    10
    11        My Lord, I observe (if my arithmetic is right) that there
    12        are just over or just about 1.6 million square miles of
    13        productive forest resource in the United States and Canada
    14        alone.  The question that Mr. Morris and Ms. Steel ought,
    15        with respect, to be focusing on is this, if I may suggest
    16        it:  What impact on that resource does McDonald's use of
    17        packaging in North America have?  My Lord, I put it like
    18        that because Mr. Mallinson has spent one whole day and
    19        nearly another half day being cross-examined.  We have only
    20        got as far as page 7 of his statement.  I am very anxious,
    21        if it can be avoided, that he does not have to come back
    22        yet again.
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:  Can I say, the fact that they may or may not be only
    25        responsible for a small part of the whole industry does not
    26        make them any less responsible.  It is a bit like a
    27        murderer -----
    28
    29   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am aware of that argument; it has been
    30        declared in this court many times so far while I have been
    31        sitting here.  Do not think I am not aware of that.  What
    32        I am urging Mr. Morris to do (and you, if you ask questions
    33        on this topic as well) is really to just touch on the
    34        various heads and then move on to the next one.  In due
    35        course, we will hear the evidence of your witness.
    36
    37        It is very, very easy to get a bit bogged down by asking a
    38        question, then an answer comes and something occurs that
    39        you might not accept in that so you ask a question about
    40        that, then something occurs in the answer to that question
    41        which you might not quite agree with, so one asks a
    42        question about that.  You have to keep your eye on the ball
    43        as you have just expounded it really.
    44
    45   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  I will bear that in mind.  The questions that
    46        I will be asking should get less as we go through.  We have
    47        dealt with a lot of it.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We will have our five-minute break, then we
    50        will come back to it.  One way in a case which has so many 
    51        potential issues and sub-issues and sub-sub-issues and 
    52        sub-sub-sub issues and sub-sub-sub-sub-issues is to ask 
    53        yourself:  "When we come to the end of the evidence and
    54        I am addressing the judge about this, is this something
    55        which I am actually going to mention to him in a speech
    56        which must have some finite limit on it?"  And then
    57        concentrate on the points which you really think you may be
    58        wanting to remind me of at the end of the day.  I will come
    59        back in five minutes time.
    60

Prev Next Index