The following is a continuation of the Throne Speech debate which started in the House of Assembly last week Acting Premier and Education Minister Jerome Dill yesterday underlined Government's commitment to forking out for the future of the young.

He told the House of Assembly that around 1000 students had been given access to 40 institutions around the world at the sixth college and university fair.

And he said the difference between the United Bermuda Party and the Opposition was that the UBP represented all Bermudians -- not just some.

Mr. Dill said: "The fate of this Country is going to be determined by the way in which we cater to as many of the people as we can.'' He added that -- while Government provided grants -- these could be insufficient.

But he said the Government's Loan Guarantee Scheme, established with $2 million, had now risen to $4 million, which took the total available to Bermudian students to $6 million.

Mr. Dill added: "This Government is focussed on doing all it possibly can to allow young people to take the opportunities available to them under our stewardship.'' And he said the "fundamental thrust'' of the Throne Speech was to "focus on the responsibilities each of us have for ourselves and each other.

"The Government has the responsibility to do what it can to ensure genuine equality....the individual has the personal responsibility to take advantage of these responsibilities when we make them available.'' But he said Government had not forgotten those who had difficulties in school.

He added it cost three to four times as much to educate a child with special needs than one without.

But Mr. Dill said: "Everyone has value, everyone must be catered to, for there but for the grace of God go all of us.'' Mr. Dill added that the Opposition had "poured scorn'' on the Throne Speech because "one or two'' items had been carried over from previous blueprints.

He said one problem faced was the `nimby' syndrome -- not in my back yard -- when trying to set up a residential drugs aftercare facility on the Island.

But he added that the project would be up and running by the end of the Parliamentary session.

And he warned that no generation had a monopoly on morals and it was dangerous for people to allow nostalgia to blind them to reality.

Mr. Dill said: "I would be very, very cautious not to write off an entire generation because we are overcome with nostalgia for our past.'' The new alternative school, he continued, would focus on youngsters with genuine behavioural problems and be staffed not only with teachers and support staff trained in anger management, but counsellors and educational therapists as well.

Mr. Dill added that all of this was proof that PLP claims were untrue.

He said: "This is all done in an attempt to provide support, counselling, and programmes to meet the needs of these people they say we treat as expendable.'' Mr. Dill added it was "dangerous'' for the PLP to claim that Bermuda was not a "fully functioning democracy'' until they were elected Government.

He said: "Every single election since our present Constitution in 1968, the people have chosen to be represented by a United Bermuda Party Government.'' PLP backbencher and former Bermuda Industrial Union leader Ottiwell Simmons , however, insisted small Bermudian businesses were not getting enough support.

And he insisted tax structures and policy "excluded small businesses from the economy,'' while 68 per cent of the Island's hotel beds were in the hands of "absentee landlords.'' He said: "We are in a very serious position and it's about time Government took its responsibilities and ensures part of the economy comes under the full control of Bermudians.'' And Mr. Simmons said one way to do that was to support the small business sector. He claimed employees in big hotels were paying as little as two percent on employment tax, while the small employees are paying as much as five percent.

And he insisted that Bermudians were not benefiting from the prosperity and money being generated on the Island.

Mr. Simmons added there was "an increase in beggars on the streets'' and more homelessness.

He said Government should "do away with homelessness and provide jobs so local people will not be jobless.'' Mr. Simmons also claimed that Government had pledged to crack down on impaired driving -- but were giving a "licence to drive and a licence to drink.'' He said: "We have got to do something about the fundamental morality of this Country and it has to start with the Goverment.'' On Government's plans to introduce legislation allowing for mandatory workplace ballots on union recognition and derecognition, Mr. Simmons said decertification could be a backdoor way of union-busting.

He said: "They're going to put in law what has been in their minds all along -- get rid of the unions.'' Tourism Minister David Dodwell accused the PLP of "trotting out the ideas'' but not following them through to completion.

He insisted that what Bermuda had achieved in tourism and international business was "something to be proud of.'' But he said Bermuda tourism operated in a shrinking world and against much more competition than ever before.

He added, however, that the UBP ethos was not just to divide the economic pie more equally -- but to cook up a bigger pie and divide that up more equally.

He said: "We do it in the way outlined in the Throne Speech -- through partnerships and growing together. If we don't do that, at best, we are going to stand still and in today's world that's moving back.'' Mr. Dodwell said that discussion of the tourism situation was healthy and should be encouraged. He added there had been a 15-year decline in the industry, partly encouraged by the view in visitors' minds that Bermuda did not offer value for money.

But he said the US-based Monitor Group had not been invited to review the industry to tell Bermuda what to do -- but rather how to do it.

He added the product was still strong and the ability was still strong and the fact that the impetus to improve tourism was there was an indication of that.

Mr. Dodwell said: "It's not going to happen overnight but in my opinion the needle is moving up.'' He added marketing alone was not the problem, because "all the marketing in the world'' would not work if the product was not up to par.

But he said events like the Gillette golf tournament and Jazzscape had helped boost hotel occupancy over the last three months.

He added a new Transportation Authority would bring a further boost by developing an integrated transport policy which the customer wanted and at a price they were prepared to pay.

Shadow Finance Minister Eugene Cox accused British education leaders of racism.

Mr. Cox, responding to the throne speech, called on Government to do more to improve Bermuda's relationship with the UK.

And he urged Premier Pamela Gordon to do more to ensure a fairer deal for Bermudian students who go to college in Britain.

Mr. Cox said: "We know that Bermudians now are paying higher fees for education in the UK than the people of Europe.

"We are a colony of the UK but we do not pay the same fees or get the benefits that students from the European Community get.

"Let's not have our Bermudian students paying any more than a British student. It seems to me that racism creeps in.

"Many of our young white students don't face the same problems. What we say to Government is that we have a golden opportunity to improve that aspect of our relationship with the UK.'' He also spoke in the House for the first time about the controversial expansion plans for the National Equestrian Centre at Vesey Street.

Environment Minister Irving Pearman came under fire for lifting a woodlands reserve order on the site which banned building work.

Government, which has not taken an official stance, is now allowing the Development Applications Board to consider proposals.

But Mr. Cox said: "How can a minister of Government overturn such an order without even coming to this House? "I have a piece of land in Southampton which I built a water tank on. I had plans for it.

"But then I received a woodlands reserve order and now I can't develop it.

"How can you justify or rationalise that the rulings were changed so the planning department can receive a proposal? I can't conceive how somebody in a ministerial position could do that.

"It's extraordinary. The Minister's knowledge can fill a book but his ignorance can fill a library.'' Works and Engineering Minister C.V. (Jim) Woolridge took the microphone and admitted that the throne speech was "an election manifesto''.

He said the strengths of Government's proposals would be backed by Bermudians at the next General Election.

Mr. Woolridge said: "The people out there, the next time we go to the polls, will judge us favourably.

"We have fulfilled our obligations over the last two or three years and we have achieved much.

"We are accused that this throne speech is an election manifesto. Yes it is.

It is one which will win us the next election.

"What we sometimes do is highlight the negatives but there are a lot of positives in this throne speech and we are very proud of it. The community will judge us.'' He criticised the Opposition's reply to the throne speech, accusing it of making no provision for law and order.

"Government's throne speech places great emphasis on law and order,'' he said. "From the time of Moses we had the Ten Commandments and unless man obeys laws there can be no country and no civilisation.

"But my good friends on the other side of the House produced a document which was void of all that.

"We have people running shy of something very important in this community.'' He also denied claims by Opposition leader Jennifer Smith that Government was failing in its duties to provide affordable housing.

He said Government, which launched the Housing Sales Programme, was funding $7 million a year in mortgages -- and subsidising $17.5 million worth of housing.

"To say Government is doing nothing to provide affordable housing is nonsense,'' he said.

"Many people have burned their mortgages and now they are free people. That's what this society is all about.'' He also claimed his own department, Works and Engineering, deserved praise for setting aside $450,000 for a maintenance review of the swing bridge at St.

George's.

Back in August, Opposition Leader Ms Smith said the bridge was long overdue for replacement after a series of mechanical breakdowns.

But Mr. Woolridge said: "We are conducting a complete review and inspection of the bridge.

"We are not asleep but we are waiting for officials from overseas to make sure that the main artery into St. George's can remain open.'' Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Stanley Morton responded to the claim that his party was soft on crime by calling for a ban on alcohol sales in small supermarkets and sports clubs.

He said: "Statistics show that 80 percent of crime in this country is prompted by drug abuse.

"I would include liquor as a drug. Small grocery stores are where young people congregate so alcohol should be removed from sales there.

"It's also time we taught our young people in elementary schools the skills of book-keeping.

"If they learn from an early age, they will resist the temptation to go into crime or drugs as a source of money.

"Youngsters need to learn the wisdom of investment and it's up to the Government to help them with that.'' Jerome Dill