without it, the ramifications to the Island would be devastating. It is also pertinent to remember that our only natural resources are the beauty of the Island and the friendliness of our people. Sadly today, there is the perception we are losing a bit of both.'' He described Bermuda as a "modern day miracle'' that cannot stand alone. None of Bermuda's major hotels was owned by Bermudians, he said.

Bermudians provided 77 percent of the labour and created the infrastructure for the economic success.

"The UBP support the consideration of status for LTR before the cut-off date of August 1, 1989. We support inviting them to apply for status when and where a due process of vetting applications would take place.

"By and large, these people are here on the Island playing an integral role in the community. They will cause no further impact on the infrastructure as they have a roof over their heads, their children attend schools, and perhaps they are Bermudian, and they are currently using the transportation system.

"If you focus on the people who fall into the LTR, the Green Paper refers to an estimated 1,400 people eligible to apply for a WRC -- based on the 1991 census.

"Of this number, Government informs us that only 551 have applied (40 percent). If this is the case, it should not be assumed that large numbers of people would take up the invitation to apply for status.

"Of those 551 who applied for the WRC, 77 percent are over the age of 50, past their child-rearing years. Surely they will not add to our population at this point in time or in the future.

"LTRs know of no other home after so many years on the Island. Surely these people should be considered for status.'' Mr. Dunkley said a recent poll showed more than 50 percent of Bermudians were in favour of status for LTRs.

Mr. Dunkley said Bermuda's long term residents should be given status.

"They are long term residents by choice and not by accident,'' he said. "We should make them Bermudian by choice -- by our choice and by their choice.'' Works Minister Alex Scott was passionate about the issue.

He said it was an issue that should not be handled in a cavalier manner, but one that needed to be dealt sensitively and thoughtfully. And he praised Minister Paula Cox for the way in which she put her Green Paper presentation together.

But he also said that a lot of the concern and hurt felt by long term residents had been removed by the Green Paper.

And he said he believed everyone agreed that Bermudians and their rights should come first.

"There is tremendous sympathy and justice shown to long term residents in this Green Paper,'' he added.

But he said that had been disregarded by many of the people who had criticised Government, including church ministers.

He agreed that many of the public meetings during the summer were emotionally charged and passionate, but he said that was understandable when black Bermudians had been refused their rights for so many years.

"If they became a little emotional, Mr. Speaker, give some thought to the background,'' he added.

And he said he believed Bermuda had made guest workers and long term residents feel very welcome over the years, when other countries were less warm towards outsiders.

"Many of my colleagues have gone to Canada, the United States, and the UK and some, in actual fact, have been treated in less than a cordial way by the Government of those countries,'' Mr., Scott continued. "Some have been detained and some have been berated because they did not belong there. This Government has not treated people like that. We may not have given status, but we have made them welcome.

"Bermudians must come first. It does not mean others are second class citizens, but Bermudians in Bermuda must come first.'' And he said the PLP had always promised Bermuda that it would come up with a policy on long term residents and now it was delivering that promise.

"No-one is going to be ushered out of the Island or sent away packing. But we are not going to give a way the shop because it's too many lives.

"We are giving security to long term residents by giving them something they can use as comfort as they continue to reside in Bermuda.'' Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons said the Green Paper failed to explain what impact long term residents had on the economic and tourist industries in Bermuda, and the environment and infrastructure of the country.

And he said because the report had taken only a "very superficial look'' at these issues it was flawed.

Bermuda would never be able to sustain its current economic status without overseas workers, and Government should be looking at what Bermuda needs in the future in terms of workers and expertise.

Many countries around the world were beginning to realise that globalisation was the way forward and in order to operate at their optimum level, outsiders were needed.

"Other countries are looking to reform immigration,'' he said. "In the UK, the work permit scheme is being turned on its head.

"Most other countries, because of the birth rate, are not sustaining themselves and their interests.'' Mr. Gibbons said Bermuda had accepted visitors with open arms and consider its relationship with them as a short-term affair.

However, Bermudians had failed to work out what kind of relationship they had with long term residents and guest workers.

"We all admit that we need them in Bermuda, but we tend to only be concerned with the negative things.'' Ottiwell Simmons (PLP) said it was important for Government to get the new policy right and he believed it would be.

He said: "Everyone finds Bermuda to be either the best or one of the best places in the whole wide world.'' But he said the problem was that the Island was restricted in size so steps had to be taken to ensure it did not become overpopulated, leaving Bermudians at a disadvantage.

"We are not being unfair to anyone,'' he said. "I remember when black people could not excel beyond the role of sergeant in Bermuda Police Service or the regiment.

"I get so annoyed with the background of this Country. We are going to right the wrongs of the former Governments.'' He said many foreign people who had come to work in Bermuda had benefited the Island, but he said they were enticed here by the United Bermuda Party deliberately to prevent black Bermudians from progressing and taking up better opportunities.

And he said it was time to ensure that the people of Bermuda were put first.

"We want to make Bermuda truly beautiful and generally beneficial to all people, but at no time do we want to give Bermuda away to those people other than those people who were born and bred here. They only have the disadvantage of one passport.'' And he said he believed guest workers and long terms residents never expected to get the same rights as those people born here.

Shadow Education Minister Tim Smith said Bermuda was lucky that it did not the same problems as many other, bigger countries, such as dealing with droves of illegal immigrants and refugees passing through their borders.

And he said in his opinion, Bermuda abandoned its immigration policy in 1989, instead just using the work permit scheme to monitor who came and left the Island.

He said: "We need to continue to encourage entry, settlement and sustainability for both Bermuda and the people we invited to our shores.

"In the past we have invited other citizens to the Island to work. We want people who have come here to feel a part of the community.'' And he said if the Island restricted all guest workers to short-term contracts, their commitment would be short-term and their interest short-term.

Quoting a US congressman, Mr,. Smith said long term residents had "played by the rules'' and a fair government would remember them.

Such people had brought their "intellectual, financial, and or physical'' attributes to make Bermuda what it is today and successive United Bermuda Party Governments balanced everyone's rights.

"I'm extremely patriotic about Bermuda,'' Mr. Smith said. "I have no intentions of moving away. But I have to say that I don't think I'm giving away our natural rights.'' Delaey Robinson (PLP) called the differences of opinion "a great divide'' and "these issues hit some deep chords''.

"Clearly over the past few decades the decks have been stacked,'' Mr.

Robinson said, in favour of European immigrants over "regional'' or people from the Caribbean.

"You can't argue with the numbers,'' he added. "The numbers speak for themselves. Five times more Europeans than people from the Caribbean. And out of those numbers it is therefore not surprising that there is this outrage which has been expressed.'' When he was challenged by Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon, that her party had no control over who applied and who got the jobs, Mr. Robinson said: "I'll clarify that for you! The people who provided the jobs were the same people in the oligarchy who were sitting up here making the laws.'' Government backbencher Wayne Perinchief said he would "stick my neck out'' and encourage Bermudians to do something they do not normally do -- read.

"I believe Bermudians seldom read. They'll watch TV or listen to these debates or talk show.'' But all the "wild speculation'', "rhetoric and negative aspersions'' on the Green Paper have come from the public not reading the paper itself, Mr.

Perinchief explained.

While Government cannot "abrogate its international responsibilities'' it also has a responsibility to the people of Bermuda, he added.

Mr. Perinchief also highlighted concerns that a grant of citizenship to any individual would mean additional people would have to also be accommodated -- like family members.

Allan Marshall (UBP) said Government had failed to pressure the British Government to push forward the grant of full citizenship to Bermudians which he said parallelled the plight of long term residents.

He called anything less than a full grant of Status "archaic'' in the light of negative employment rate and negative birth rate among Bermudians.

"I ask the question, how can this be a discussion paper when the Government has already stated its position on the most important point of the debate?'' Mr. Marshall added.

He called for anyone who had been in Bermuda for more than 20 years in 1989 to be granted status or "embraced'' as all our forefathers were.

Attorney General Dame Lois Browne-Evans said she felt sorry for the long term residents who had been on the Island for many years and had failed to take advantage of any opportunities for non-Bermudians to apply for status.

But she said the issue was a difficult one to solve and said the Portuguese Association and other interested long term residents should come up with some sort of figure of how many people are looking for status.

And she said they should also be asked to explain where future generations will be housed and educated if status is granted.

But the Attorney General said the UBP had also faced fierce criticism over the way it treated and handled non-Bermudians living in Bermuda in the past.

She said the churches were forced to get involved in 1972 because many Portuguese were being exploited.

And she said former Premier Sir John Swan went to great lengths to enlist Bermuda onto the Shipping Register.

However, she said when a Vietnamese ship went down and Bermuda was asked to take in 12 Vietnamese families, there was uproar.

After discussions in Britain, she said Sir John finally managed to reduce that number to seven people, but the issue showed how the UBP was against allowing just anybody to take up residency on the Island.

"The Progressive Labour Party has been speaking for these (types of) people for years,'' she said. "We spoke on human rights. If they are human beings, then treat them like human beings -- that is what we said.'' And she said she wanted people to stop staying that the PLP is polarising and dividing Bermuda.

"There was always a policy to divide in the UBP,'' she said. "Now they are saying they want to give status to everyone.

"That Government had until 1998, November 9. Until that day they had to work it out. It was not in their mandate and not in their platform.

"It is some people who are now stirring up the pot and doing it for political reasons.'' And she said she had a message for the people of Bermuda, if they could read over the "propaganda''.

"The PLP is the best thing that ever happened to this country and for them,'' she added. "They must take the reins, get over their fears and get over their intimidations. Breathe easily and live easily in this country. Thank God the PLP runs this country.'' C.V. (Jim) Woolridge (UBP), who was Home Affairs Minister in the 1970s, refuted the Attorney General's claims regarding that period and said he took positive steps to ensure that members of the Portugues community were not exploited in work and that the numbers of those gaining status were reduced.

But he urged Government to tread carefully.

He said if Bermuda was sympathetic to foreigners now, if it needed a favour from other countries in years to come, for example if unemployment became an issue and Bermudians needed to find work overseas, then it was more likely to be granted.

He said encouraging overseas workers to come to the Island, brought "infusion of talent'' and where executives of companies came, they also created around five positions for locals.

He said: "I'm trying to be positive on this issue. We must think positive.

"A lot of people say they don't want any people here and don't want status given to anyone, but a lot of those people saying this are first generation Bermudian. They came here and stayed here some how.

"People come here to do the jobs that Bermudians can't do or won't do.

"Every restaurant here is owned by people who came here from overseas. Why? "Work permits are a cushion. They can be reduced if needed. These people (on work permits) I feel sorry for. They are bashed all the time. They have no rights. The only thing they have is a piece of paper from immigration.

"We must treat people how we want to be treated. We have people overseas. We can't be global on one hand and be chintzy on the other hand.

"In the full context, yes, we have to be concerned about the rights of Bermudians. I also have concerns about housing and the land available.

"But the Minister must come up with a policy that is as fair as can be.

"We can't continue to drag up our grandmother -- we have to get on with it.

We can't continue with the hate-mongering. We must learn to live together or we have no future at all.'' Stanley Morton (PLP) praised Minister Cox for her presentation and said she had "grappled'' with the issue and been fair in her proposals.

He said there needed to be a policy set and it needed to be done properly, and he felt Ms. Cox was the person to see it through.

But he said when people came to the Island they should never have come expecting anything from Government.

And he said Government should never just grant status to just anybody.

Dame Lois Brown Evans Allan Marshall C.V. (Jim) Woolridge