Friday, The Royal Gazette has talked to the two party leaders about their expectations for the coming session. The interview with Opposition Leader Mr.

Frederick Wade appears today. Tomorrow, the Gazette runs its interview with Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan.

Race will dominate debate in the coming session of the House of Assembly, predicts Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade.

Interviewed last week just before the story broke of an apparent challenge to his leadership, Mr. Wade said the upcoming House session will be "more interesting'' than the last one.

Closure of the American Bases will be an ongoing concern in the House, and reports of the Task Force on Employment and Commission on Competitiveness are set to be debated.

"In all of them, discussion of race will come up,'' Mr. Wade said. "That permeates all of life in Bermuda.'' In discussing the economy generally, the question of the "ownership of the wealth of the country'' and what Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan has called "the glass ceiling'' for Bermudian blacks will be raised, he said.

"Also the options which open themselves up on and off the Base and the whole question of the distribution of the opportunities the Base provides,'' he said. "Government must be doing more facilitating -- bringing Bermudians who have not had an opportunity in the past into the picture. As opposed to just finding investors, they have to look for certain kinds of investors.'' Human Affairs Minister the Hon. Jerome Dill is expected to table legislation outlined in Government's White Paper Towards Eliminating Racism. While the Progressive Labour Party generally supports measures outlined in the White Paper, Mr. Wade said it appeared to not go far enough. "We may have to up the ante,'' he said.

"We're concerned about the business side of it,'' and "the economic power that whites have over blacks.

"We will see what's in the legislation that deals with these aspects of it.

That may cause us to put forward some other suggestions.'' Crime and drugs were another major concern -- one on which Mr. Wade said Gvoernment and the Country were "floundering.'' "It's out of control,'' he said. "I don't see anything happening that's going to bring it under control.'' Bermuda had seen an increase in crime without a corresponding increase in manpower. Mr. Wade said he favoured Government's planned redeployment in which officers in desk jobs would be replaced with civilians and put on the street.

"We need to have better policing, not more of it,'' he said.

The PLP would also "try to provide remedial work in the community'' to keep young people from getting in trouble.

And drug awareness programmes were needed in the schools, Mr. Wade said. He recently attended a Youth Parliament meeting at which all the secondary school students present said they had never had a drug awareness session in the classroom.

He denounced the Premier's talk of a return to the birch as "ludicrous.'' And it was "far more despicable'' for a black man like Sir John to suggest it, he said. "It conjures up slaves being whipped -- a horror that we hoped had died with slavery.'' In any case, "Sir John knows that no court in the western world is going to support him beating anybody,'' Mr. Wade said. "He was just playing politics.'' On Independence, Mr. Wade predicted a tough fight for Sir John in getting legislation passed for a referendum on Independence planned for next summer.

"Even if he succeeds in getting the referendum bill through Parliament, whether he can get support for Independence through the referendum is another question,'' he said.

Most Bermudians did not yet want Independence, Mr. Wade said. While a majority of blacks favoured the change, most "don't have a passion in their breast for it,'' he said.

Government need to "take the lead'' on Independence and "put the full force of Government behind'' achieving it. The PLP had not decided how it would respond to a referendum on Independence, but it still felt the issue should be decided in a general election, he said.

While an apparent challenge from Sen. Terry Lister has called Mr. Wade's leadership into question, the PLP leader desribed Sir John's position as "untenable.'' The Premier had the equivalent of a minority Government and would not be able to pass contentious legislation, Mr. Wade said.

LIVELY DEBATE -- Opposition leader Mr. Frederick Wade.