have been removed from the air because they were considered to be less than factual.

That seems to prove the claims by people who have maintained that the public was not being properly informed. That is extraordinarily embarrassing for Bermuda.

It also raises any number of questions.

Was this intentional? Was the public misled by those in favour of Independence? Why were the commercials not vetted properly before they were shown to the public in the first place? Government's spokesman has said that they were "open to misinterpretation''. Government, of course, will not label the advertisements as "inaccurate''.

It was clear from the first time anyone saw it that one of Senator Gerald Simons' commercials dealing with military assistance from Britain after Independence was, at the very least, "putting words in the mouth'' of the British Government. We would have thought that commercial was easy for the Director of Information Services to vet since he is also a former Commanding Officer of the Bermuda Regiment.

What does this removal from the air say for the rest of Government's expensive Independence advertising campaign? There are already many people who view the campaign as pro-Independence propaganda.

Is the entire campaign inaccurate? Technically it may not be inaccurate but we think it is very misleading in that it presents pro-Independence "facts'' but very few anti-Independence "facts'' and Bermudians were promised that it would not be biased.

Dr. David Saul's television ad as Minister of Finance is particularly disturbing. Yes, our dollar is secure now. But that is not the point. The television ad does not give anyone an idea of what could happen to Bermuda's dollar if we went independent and the international companies began to leave.

What could....COULD....happen to our dollar if we began to show an unfavourable balance of payments? The public needs to know that in order to make a balanced decision.

It is like costs of overseas representation. Politicians tell us how low costs would be right after Independence when everyone was keeping their promises but they never estimate the millions in costs five years after Independence.

The "your dollar'' commercial has raised questions for us which we did not have before we saw it.

Why was it thought necessary to give Bermuda half of the story? Is there concern for the Bermuda dollar after Independence that we are not being told? Senator Simons has said of his commercials, which have been removed from the air, that he was "merely an actor'' and did not know they had been pulled from the air.

Are we to believe from the statement that he was "merely an actor'' that he did not necessarily believe what he has been saying to us over and over and over on television? Does Senator Simons think that a senior politician can be "merely an actor'' in a political advertising campaign? Clearly Senator Simons most know that these ads put his political credibility, and the credibility of the other politicians appearing in them, on the line.

Senator Simons has appeared before the Bermudian public in two ads which have been removed from TV because they are, by Government's own admission, "open to misinterpretation''.

Senator Simons now has a serious credibility problem. So does the whole Independence advertising campaign.

The most difficult thing is for anyone to believe that any of this is happening here in Bermuda. It is a sad time.