Day 110 - 29 Mar 95 - Page 19

     
     1        publication part of his evidence might be deferred to a
     2        later time.  Having thought about that overnight, I see no
     3        objection to that, but when I say that I mean by that the
     4        whole of his evidence on publication, that is to say, both
     5        evidence-in-chief and cross-examination.  So, he should be
     6        recalled to deal with that as a discrete issue.
     7
     8        Second, I would only agree to it on the footing that your
     9        Lordship gave us leave to speak to Mr. Nicholson between
    10        the conclusion of his cross-examination on employment and
    11        the commencement of his evidence about the publication
    12        matters.  I would undertake not to come back to employment,
    13        of course, and I would expect the Defendants not to do so
    14        either.
    15
    16        In other words, I would expect them, having deferred their
    17        preparation of publication until sometime in August or
    18        September, to complete their cross-examination on
    19        employment so that we can all come fresh to Mr. Nicholson
    20        on the issue of publication sometime after the beginning of
         October.
    22
    23   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If I may voice it now, I have from time to
    24        time thought about publication and must confess to feeling
    25        some concern that it comes so near the end.  I can see the
    26        sense in that if the fact is that the Defence evidence on
    27        the matter of publication is largely, though not entirely,
    28        their own and they are not going to give evidence, if they
    29        choose to give evidence, until the very end of the trial.
    30        However, it raises the potentially absurd spectre that one
    31        might have spent something like 18 months trying a totally
    32        unnecessary case if there was no satisfactory evidence of
    33        publication.
    34
    35   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes, that might be so.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I have a suggestion to make:  Among your
    38        witnesses, on the face of it, are some witnesses, and
    39        I would have to refresh my memory of them -- in fact, I was
    40        glancing through again this morning to some extent -- but,
         if my recollection is right, there is a witness, for
    42        instance (is it Mr. Carroll?) who says that he actually saw
    43        Ms. Steel hand out the leaflet which is complained of on a
    44        particular day.
    45
    46        I have read Ms. Steel's statement in relation to handing it
    47        out generally.  I would like you to think over the next day
    48        or two whether, for instance, it would not be sensible to
    49        call Mr. Carroll soon to see if, for instance, he gives
    50        that evidence and so that I can hear the cross-examination 
    51        in relation to that. 
    52 
    53   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, the principal reason we put publication
    54        where it was, there were two reasons.  The first is that,
    55        to be quite honest, it did not seem to us actually in the
    56        end to be much of an issue.  Obviously, if there had been
    57        any real danger, if it was a really live issue and there
    58        was any real danger that the case might fail on
    59        publication, then your Lordship is right, it would have
    60        been a kind of insanity to have all the other evidence