HOW best to deal with Bermuda's beggars and inevitably, the homeless, is an issue many say should have been given serious consideration years ago.

Corporation of Hamilton Secretary Roger Sherratt raised the issue again last week after several complaints by residents and tourists who had been confronted by aggressive beggars.

According to Fern Wade - founder and co-ordinator of the Hands of Love Mission, a charity which provides food and clothing to those in need - the problem will continue to exist until the community addresses the cause, rather than the effect of the problem.

TIRED of seeing people going hungry on the streets of Bermuda with nothing being done about it, Fern Wade launched the Hands of Mission 12 years ago. Through a genuine need, the charity has since expanded, operating out of two units in Warwick - Camp Hill and Cedar Hill.

It's through her work over the years that Mrs. Wade feels she has some insight into Bermuda's problem and how, possibly, it might be turned around.

"I've been helping people on the streets for 20 years," she said. "Of the people I see, I would say 90 per cent are there because of a drug dependency; 70 per cent I would say because of mental problems.

"And what I've been saying for at least the past six years is that we need a day where we can sit down and discuss the problem. Really, there isn't even a record of how many homeless people there are in Bermuda.

"It was last seriously looked at about ten years ago, when Government (mapped out) a plan to deal with homeless people and the reason why it was not important then, and isn't important now, is because there isn't any voting power there."

The Corporation of Hamilton is now looking to develop a concrete solution to the problem after repeated complaints from locals and tourists about the aggression of beggars - among them Eugene (Jinx) Darrell - on the city streets.

After hearing of a successful ban on beggars in certain shopping areas in Nottingham in the English Midlands, Corporation Secretary Roger Sherratt turned to its City Council for advice and is to share his findings with related Government Ministries and lawyers to see if and how the ban could work here.

In the interim, however, the courts have again resorted to jailing Jinx Darrell - this time for four months - for begging on Hamilton streets. According to Mrs. Wade, it's the wrong way to deal with the problem.

"We understand that begging should be discouraged from all streets in the city," she said. "If we chase them out of Front Street they will go to different areas. We will always have beggars with us; we'll always have the poor with us.

"Not everybody's employed. Not everyone is employable. The guys have social problems; they have mental problems and we have to deal with the problems they have. It's important to make them feel good. They are people too.

"We keep locking them up. He's gone to prison for four months just for asking a plainclothes policeman for money to get a hot dog. Yet a lady on the same page of the newspaper (that day) stole $4,000 from the bank - mind you she gave it back - and only received a conditional discharge.

"Where is the justice? We understand, and I've been saying it for years now, that the prison is used as a shelter for the homeless - at the expense of the taxpayer. I will continue saying that until someone listens.

"The courts don't know what to do and (so they) send them to jail where, at least, they'll get food and shelter but then they're back out and doing the same thing."

In order to get to the root of the problem,"Mrs. Wade said, Bermuda first needed to determine the basics - how many homeless there are on the island, where they sleep, how they obtain food and how they spend their days. Only after that, she added, could any solutions be effectively put to work.

"After that, we can deal with whatever else is out there," she said. "As I said before, we keep saying (that our plan is to) get them from Front Street. Front Street is no different from any other street in Hamilton. If you chase them from Front Street, they'll go to Reid Street. If you chase them from Reid Street, they'll go to Court Street. So we need to deal with them while they are on Front Street."

Suggestions by Mrs. Wade include:

A three-strike programme in which food is provided for beggars who toe the line, while those who don't suffer such consequences as being forced to identify unknown beggars to police and/or to collect bottles, cans and other debris from neglected areas.

A programme should be established to make visitors and residents aware that they are not obliged to give anything to beggars and, if confronted by a beggar, they should be encouraged to make an immediate report - giving a description - to police.

A beggars' tent, where members of the public could have their shoes polished at a cost; where the beggars themselves could exhibit and sell their art, provide entertainment and conduct legal trade to make cash for themselves. Such a tent should be easily accessible to the public and could, perhaps, serve food and provide provisions to the beggars as well.

l Signs attached to clothing indicating that the wearer is a known beggar and should not be fed by members of the public. If taken off, the beggar would have to pay for its replacement, which would be made larger and placed in an even more prominant position.

"The people who have the real solutions are the beggars themselves," said Mrs. Wade. "We should talk with them. Beggars and poor people are world-wide. They don't just exist in Bermuda. But it's how we deal with them. Many of us are just one pay cheque away from being homeless and begging. I think we need to address the problem rather than just pushing it to another street.

"Homeless and begging go hand in hand. I have a guy living here. He has nowhere to live. He lost his job. He's not addicted to alcohol or on drugs but if you can't pay your rent, the landlord or landlady (inevitably) tells you it's time to go.

"You're dealing with people making $500 a week and trying to pay $1,500 a month rent. There should be a balance where your wage at least covers your rent. You have the private sector charging $1,200 a month; Government's rent is $1,200 a month. The private sector charges $1,500 a month; Goverment charges $1,500 a month. Where's the balance?

"It would make more sense for Government's rent to be at a reasonable rate. At the moment, I have a waiting list of 85 people looking for housing who can't afford today's rents. People just don't care.

"I think the worst story I've experienced was ten years ago. I was summoned to Court Street where there was a family of five living in a car.

"I couldn't allow that, so they lived with me for six months. It wasn't easy but that was the worst experience I'd seen, people eating out of a car. Even today, people dress up and go to work while living in their car and using public toilets, because they can't afford (to pay for housing)."

Ex-convicts were especially in need of public consideration, said Mrs. Wade, as many, once released from prison, found themselves homeless because no one would give them a job.

"That's where the public needs to come in and be taught about respecting individuals rather than keep the hammer over their heads because they're criminals. They have served their time in prison. I'm still a person, yes I've done wrong in society, but we need to treat people like people instead of looking down on each other.

"We're all the same in God's eyes. We're not condoning criminality, but once an individual has paid his debt to society, let's give him a chance. He needs somewhere to work, he needs somewhere to live."

Churches, Mrs. Wade said, provide some relief but most offer food instead of housing. And the Salvation Army's Government-sponsored programme - which provides both - is only accessible to its members.

"Some go but many aren't going to walk (all across Bermuda) for a meal.

I'd like to set up a place where anyone can come. I don't discriminate, however they would know that if they continued to beg, they would suffer the consequences. "

Although Bermuda has long had a problem with beggars, Mrs. Wade said that in recent years, there had been definite changes, both in the numbers out there and their level of aggression.

"There are a lot of new ones out there I haven't seen before; a lot of younger ones," she said. "They're mainly men. We women like to be hygienic but men, they don't care. They don't have a problem smelling. I think the reason why (people are starting to complain) is because they're becoming so obvious.

"They're more brazen. Before, you could see them sitting down and know that maybe they were drunk but they weren't bothering anybody. Now they're coming right up to your face and asking for a $1 or whatever.

"(Some of the better known ones) have mental problems. Do you keep them at St. Brendan's? They don't have the facilities. We need somewhere, an area where they can get a cup of tea.

"I call for a day where we can sit down in Bermuda and say that this is a situation we can deal with. We can do it, Bermuda has the money, we're small; we all know everybody. We need to put aside a day where we can recognise the homeless person. If we can establish a facility that cares for dogs and cats, organise events at City Hall to collect cat food and dog food, why can't we have a day at City Hall where everyone can bring a can or a bottle to feed a homeless person?"

The two Hands of Love Mission units are open between 10.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon and 6.30 p.m., Saturdays. For more information, telephone 238-7368.