Vital vote seems set for delay
certain last night, as a Government MP said he would remain in hospital all this week after a car accident.
Through a hospital spokesman, Deputy Speaker Mr. Tim Smith told The Royal Gazette that after discussing the situation with his doctor, "he doesn't anticipate being able to come to the House on Friday.'' His wife Mrs. Sue Smith said the 33-year-old Paget West MP was scheduled to have further surgery tomorrow to mend a compound fracture to his right leg that he suffered on Tuesday. She expected he would be in King Edward VII Memorial Hospital " a week or so.'' "Until he has the operation on Friday, they really don't know,'' she said.
Mr. Smith was on a cycle when he was struck by car at Court and Victoria streets at about 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Police suspect an 83-year-old Paget man who was driving the car went through a red light.
The United Bermuda Party caucus is to meet today to assess the situation, but sources said they doubted Government would gamble on the bill's passage without Mr. Smith.
At full strength, the UBP only has a 21-18 majority in the House of Assembly.
And at least two Government backbenchers -- the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto and Mr. Trevor Moniz -- are widely expected to abstain on the referendum bill.
The House was set to rise for the Easter Break after tomorrow's vote, and a delay could disrupt travel plans for MPs on both sides.
Unlikely to let the matter linger until the House is set to resume after Easter on May 12, Government could schedule another sitting for March 31, in the hope that Mr. Smith would be well enough to vote that day. There is strong pressure from the business sector to get the referendum matter settled as soon as possible.
Last night, Deputy Premier the Hon. Irving Pearman said Government still planned to proceed on Friday. But he would not comment when asked whether that meant it would proceed with or without Mr. Smith.
It was possible MPs could begin debate on Friday, but that would be risky for Government.
"The ball is totally in Government's court,'' Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade said last night. "They're moving from crisis to crisis.'' Whenever the vote was held, his members would be in the House, he said.
Yesterday, Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan spoke for more than two hours as debate concluded on Government's motion to "take note'' of the Green Paper on Independence.
If there were any doubters, Sir John made it clear that he favoured an Independent Bermuda.
Referendum vote looks likely to be postponed From Page 1 Stressing that Independence need not alter Bermuda's success, the Premier said it could also pull the Island's races together.
"We need something that has a oneness about it -- that doesn't belong to someone else,'' he said. "It belongs to us and we nurture it and care for it.'' After 13 years as Premier, Sir John said he got fed up with lack of progress in removing the "glass ceiling'' between blacks and whites in Bermuda.
"I said: `I'll get your attention, and I can tell you, attention has been gotten,''' the Premier told the House. "Maybe we won't go Independent,'' but companies that greeted him with "blank faces'' previously were moving to address racial problems.
Earlier, Youth and Sport Minister the Hon. Pamela Gordon said she did not accept that international companies would flee Bermuda after Independence. And she warned of "scaremongering'' by some MPs she said had invested in former dependent territories.
"I find it strange that we are all going to become corrupt and fall to pieces and that managers will suddenly no longer know how to manage because of just the discussion of Independence,'' she said.
Progressive Labour Party veteran Mrs. Lois Browne Evans outlined the history of the Independence issue and repeated her frequent calls for reform of Bermuda's electoral constituency boundaries.
She said the UBP was being "kicked in the posterior'' by its own members, and it was embarrassing to see the loneliness of the Premier in his own party.
Government backbencher Mr. Harry Soares said there was no doubt international businesses viewed Independence as "potentially negative''.
He had heard that businesses were adopting a "wait and see'' attitude while the Independence initiative ran its course.
Mr. Soares provoked uproar among the Opposition when he said the PLP opposed the referendum because they felt the UBP had stolen the plank on their agenda they held most dear -- Independence. The PLP had moved closer to the UBP's position on many areas, such as dual nationality, he said.