know that times are tough and that Government is charged with cutting the budget but some things have a much greater tomorrow than what they cost Bermudians today. Too often Government looks only at the practical aspects of today's cost and not at the benefits Bermuda will derive in time. Very often the benefits derived in time have to do with the quality of life which should not carry a price tag. We are not suggesting inefficiency but we are suggesting careful concern.

This has been brought home to us in recent days by cars. It was first brought home to us by Government cars and the proliferation of GP licence plates. Some GP cars are justified but the existence of many of the cars concerns the public and further clutters our roads. These cars seem totally unnecessary, especially in a recession. We think the cars demonstrate profligate spending and a lack of concern for Bermuda at a time when we are talking about cuts to public services. The cash saving in public service cuts has to be weighed against the benefits Bermudians receive. There is a great difference between being efficient and being ruthless.

When we talk about cuts in services, we have to keep a close eye on the Civil Service. Generally, in any country the civil servants will strive to build an empire and benefit themselves. That is the nature of a group of people who are well paid but can be removed from office only with great difficulty. It is also the nature of a group which understands that it has developed political power in place of the public service it was designed to provide. Thus when we look to trim a budget, we must remove excesses in the Civil Service, and GP cars are a good example, rather than cut the services to the people.

Another good example: The Minister of Transport has stated that a second-hand car market will provide jobs at the Transport Control Department for mechanics. The reality is that TCD should not hire the mechanics and we should use that money to keep the early and late ferry service running for the public.

Clearly no-one exercised any careful concern when considering the whole issue of second-hand cars. The Country came second to business considerations and that is a bad mistake. We have no doubt that dealers want to sell more cars.

However the people want Government to move toward controlling the motor car.

Government should not be agreeing to bigger cars and more cars.

Government should be looking at a pool of dealers to sell only small cars and dealers should be told now that Bermuda will phase in electric cars as soon as it is sensible to do so.

Cars should not be looked at as a cash supply or as a status symbol but purely as a means of transport adapted to Bermuda and its needs. Instead we constantly change the law on size and use of cars to suit the car lobby and then adapt Bermuda to the cars. We are proposing to do just that again. That is short sighted, ruinous and careless. The whole issue of cars requires careful concern and concern would preclude second-hand cars.