by Customs officers last week was in breach of the law.

The law states that post cards which have been out of the Island for more than five years should be dutiable at a rate of 22.5 percent, although there is some question about whether it has been consistently applied in the past.

And in the case of post card collector Donald Stephens, who sold his post cards by auction on the Internet and then planned to deliver them personally to his customers in Bermuda, there will still be questions about where the transaction actually took place.

That is a decision for the courts, which face a range of decisions on commercial law on the Internet.

In the meantime, the argument can be made that Mr. Stephens was working in Bermuda -- without a work permit or a peddler's licence. But it is not clear who decides when an amateur collector disposing of his collection becomes a dealer making his living buying and selling artefacts.

There is a wider question in all of this.

Premier Jennifer Smith is a well known supporter of the arts and culture.

Indeed, one of the reasons she entered politics was the lack of public financial support for cultural affairs in Bermuda.

Why then does this Government give the impression of being opposed to art and culture? That is exactly the image being developed when post cards, and for that matter paintings and furniture, being returned to Bermuda are taxed at a rate of 22.5 percent. It is the image Bermuda has when foreign artists' studios are raided by Immigration officers for alleged Immigration violations. And it is the image Bermuda will get among artists all over the world when resident non-Bermudian artists face proposals that they cannot sell prints of their work.

For a long time, Bermuda has rightly refused to charge Customs duty on books and other printed matter, because books and reading are seen as ways for the community to become more enlightened.

The same rule should apply to art. Through the Bermuda National Gallery and Masterworks, the Island has probably seen more great art in the last decade or so than it had in the previous 375 years.

One wonders whether Winslow Homer would wish to come to Bermuda today to paint. Apparently he would need a work permit, and if he was planning to visit, he would probably need to extend his stay after 21 days.

Certainly, laws should be applied and applied evenly. But in the case of art, these laws should be reconsidered.