Day 003 - 30 Jun 94 - Page 09


     
     1        A.  That is correct.
 
     2   Q.   Mr. Preston, your company has brought this action on this
              leaflet.  Do you recognise it?
     3        A.  I do recognise it.
 
     4   Q.   This is an enlarged facsimile of the original.  Do you
              recognise the original form?
     5        A.  I recognise the form, yes.
 
     6   Q.   Starting with this gross individual on the front page
              hiding behind a mask and then there are three pages of
     7        text and two on the outside?
              A.  Yes.
     8
         Q.   Have you considered the contents of that leaflet?
     9        A.  I have.
 
    10   Q.   May I pass up, my Lord, a copy in the same form as your
              Lordship has it which is this one, the serial A3 form.
    11        Six pages.  (Handed)  Mr. Preston, I ask you no questions
              about the caricature drawing -- call it what one likes --
    12        on the front page.  The reason is this, that the
              interpretation of that drawing and the words is a matter
    13        for his Lordship.  You cannot give relevant or admissable
              evidence about that.
    14
              But may I turn over the page because I do want to ask you
    15        about some of the assertions which are made in the course
              of the leaflet -- be wary and cautious in your answers;
    16        I do not ask you what you take them to mean because, as I
              have said, that is a matter for his Lordship and not for
    17        you or me -- whether, in so far as they contain factual
              statements about McDonald's, they are true or false to
    18        your knowledge?
              A.  OK, I understand.
    19
         Q.   Ignore the headings, if you will for the moment,
    20        "McDonald's", "McGreedy", "McMurder" and so on.  Look,
              please, at the introduction and the blob.  "What's the
    21        connection between McDonald's and starvation in the 'Third
              World'?"  Do you see that?
    22        A.  I do see it, yes.
 
    23   Q.   May I ask you this question:  So far as you are aware, as
              the head of McDonald's in this country, is there any
    24        connection between McDonald's and starvation in the Third
              World?
    25        A.  None whatsoever.
  
    26   Q.   Passing on down that column, you will see these words: 
               "Hungry for dollars.  McDonald's is one of several giant 
    27        corporations with investments in vast tracts of land in
              poor countries, sold to them by the dollar-hungry rulers
    28         ... evicting the small farmers that live there growing
              food for their own people".
    29
              So far as you are aware, Mr. Preston, does McDonald's own
    30        any investments in land in poor countries?
              A.  We do not.

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