Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 60


     
     1
     2   Q.   A company welfare statement or something?
     3        A.  Yes, exactly that.
     4
     5   Q.   You think that you got that from him after that?
     6        A.  Yes, I am sure there was another letter following this
     7        one.
     8
     9   Q.   What about Bowes?  Did you write to Bowes?
    10        A.  No, I think I -- it was only Roach that I spoke to.  I
    11        think somebody else spoke to the other -- if you look at
    12        the -- I would assume all these replies are the same thing
    13         -- I think Barbara was involved in talking to the others.
    14
    15   Q.   These are all about slaughter, the individual -----
    16        A.  Well, there would have been communication with our
    17        primary suppliers.  I do not think there would have
    18        necessarily been communication with suppliers further down
    19        the chain.
    20
    21   Q.   So you did not already have all this information on file --
    22        you did not have this information -----
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I was going to ask, what is the point of just
    25        asking for a statement?  What does that achieve for you?
    26        A.  I think -----
    27
    28   Q.   I mean, is it window dressing or does it achieve something
    29        more?
    30        A.  Well, I think the reason for doing it was that we were
    31        actually going into print on stating that this is
    32        McDonald's suppliers' official position on animal welfare
    33        and, as a matter of diligence, we felt that we should have
    34        that in writing.  We know what the positions are and there
    35        is a lot of verbal communication and, in fact, in the past
    36        the majority of discussions about welfare have all been
    37        verbal, but we felt that since we were going into print
    38        that perhaps we should have this on file.
    39
    40   MS. STEEL:  You asked Mr. Pawson for the company's statement on
    41        welfare at slaughter, and that is what he sent you?
    42        A.  This, I am trying to remember back, I think he sent me
    43        this and then I had to speak to him again and say:  "This
    44        is not quite what I was asking for".
    45
    46   Q.   He obviously did not have a statement, did he, otherwise he
    47        would have stuck one in the post to you straightaway and
    48        immediately realised what you were talking about?
    49        A.  I think if you look at the bottom of the page it says
    50        this was dictated by Mr. Pawson and signed in his absence. 
    51        He was obviously keen to reply to my questions as quickly 
    52        as possible.  It looks like he phoned his secretary, 
    53        dictated a letter.  It was not exactly what I wanted, so he
    54        had to send a different letter.
    55
    56   Q.   If the company had a statement, surely, he would have said
    57        to his secretary:  "Can you just stick a copy of our
    58        statement in the post to Mr. Kenny"?
    59        A.  Like I say, I think there was obviously some sort of
    60        miscommunication.  I could well have been talking to him

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