beggars and other vagrants on the streets of Hamilton. They find the fact that they are approached, shouted at and, sometimes, abused out of character with the general ambiance of Bermuda. In a Country as pristine as Bermuda, they do not expect to be approached on the streets.

They also think that Bermuda, as an obviously rich place, should be able to find a way to help the people who are begging so that they are not on the streets.

The situation is extremely complex and the reality is that a good number of the people are helped but are still on the streets, at least during the day.

When there were fewer in need of help, they were simply arrested by the Police and spent a good deal of time in prison. That was not a solution but it was cosmetic and the people involved were "out of sight and out of mind''.

The truth is that today holding people in prison is a far more expensive proposition than what might be spent on helping them. Locking them up is a temporary expediency which goes on over and over again while a solution aimed at rehabilitation with some chance of success can be a one time thing.

It seems to us that there is a public tendency to view these people as "hopeless cases', to shrug and to try to ignore the problem. That is not an answer, either for the people, whose numbers seem to be growing, or for Bermuda.

Much of the problem is rooted in alcohol and drugs yet stores go on selling alcohol to people who are clearly in need of help. But that is not the entire situation. Some of the people have psychological problems which go unattended.

Yet we believe that a significant number can be helped to the extent at least getting them to a level where they can leave the streets.

A good deal of valuable work is done now by organisations, notably the indefatigable Salvation Army and Fern Wade and the Hands of Love Ministry, but clearly it is not enough. Nor do we think that the people who are trying to help get sufficient public support. It is much easier to ignore people on the streets and hope they will go away than to face a complex problem and try, at least try, to do something constructive.

Bermuda is a Country of energetic charities dealing with things from the environment to the handicapped to cancer and diabetes. We think another energetic charity is needed for "street people''. Many of them have some kind of handicap even if it is an addiction. Some of them are clearly ill. As they make their way around the City and live in the rough they are not exactly an addition to the environment. Unlike some, what we suggest will not be a glamorous charity and it will require people to get their hands dirty, but it is very much needed.