over its bill to abolish annual voter registration.

No-one would deny that annual registration was an unsatisfactory system, and its weaknesses were highlighted before the last General Election when a number of people were disenfranchised after registering to vote.

But it is important that any new system does not create more problems than it solves -- and there are flaws in the system being planned, as Opposition MPs pointed out on Friday in the House of Assembly.

The greatest problem will arise in the case of people who move house in the course of a year but fail to notify the Parliamentary Registrar. This could mean a person remains a voter in a marginal constituency when they are in fact now living in a safe seat.

Because of the lengthy period allowed for appeals, the Opposition argues this could result in unnecessarily lengthy General Election campaigns.

To ensure fairness, it will probably be necessary for the Parliamentary Registrar to perform some kind of enumeration to ensure that people are living where they say they are. This would need to be done before the publication of the annual list and before a General Election.

Other concerns of the Opposition are also valid. The Government has said it wishes to widen the number of documents needed for identification but has yet to specify what they will be. At present, only driver's licences, passports or voter's cards are accepted. These have the advantage of all being Government-issued documents, thus reducing the risk of fraud.

Maintenance of the Register now becomes vitally important as well; the Parliamentary Registrar will have to monitor death notices to ensure that people who have died are struck off the list. A system will have to be put in place to make sure that no mistakes are made in this area.

In abolishing annual registration, Government has fulfilled one of its Election promises and this is likely to be the first step in a series of constitutional reforms, which could also see single seat constituencies and a smaller House of Assembly.

These will be even more momentous changes to Bermuda's electoral system which will need to be carried in a spirit of fairness. The Government needs to listen carefully to objections and plan well. It is not good enough to say, "This is a work in progress, we will deal with that later'', as some MPs did in the House on Friday.

GOVT. WASTE EDT Govt. waste Auditor Larry Dennis' most recent reports on Government's accounts make for frightening reading.

While no-one should believe that some $250 million in pension funds are missing, contributors and beneficiaries have a right to know that their money is being properly accounted for, and it is not acceptable that these accounts should be years out of date.

Equally shocking are the examples of waste, both in pensions administration where some pensioners received a pleasant bonus -- and now presumably will see their pensions drop -- and in other areas such as the hospitals, where more than $300,000 was lost, purely as a result of poor bookkeeping.

Much of the blame for this should be laid at the former United Bermuda Party Government's feet. But that does not mean that the current Government should not act quickly to solve the problems.