changes at the Elbow Beach Hotel, Government must clarify the whole situation as it applies to present and future hotels. Bermuda should know where its hotels are now and where we are going in future development.

Bermuda needs a basic plan for hotel development, hotel rebuilding and the use of hotel beds, which it does not have. The plan cannot be too specific because circumstances change but the plan must, at least, provide for a spread of facilities in terms both of amenities and price range and it must not allow Bermuda to move solely into higher priced accommodation at a time when the travelling public is changing style and counting the costs. Government also needs regulations governing the seasonal opening and closures of hotels and the regular refurbishing of hotels to avoid the chaos of too many closures at any one time.

We seem to treat hotel development differenty from regular development and to allow hotels to be more exotic in their planning than we allow individuals or businesses to be. That may well be the correct approach to providing visitor facilities, however it should not be undertaken on an emergency basis or on demand. It should not be undertaken in the midst of public outcry.

Surely it is only sensible that we know the state of our tourist facilities now and that we have a plan for their development. We should have at least an idea of which hotels will need refurbishing in which years and we should be constantly aware of which hotels are degenerating to the point where they damage tourism in the way the Bermudiana Hotel once did. We must also be aware that some of the large hotels will need major overhaul in the way Marriott Castle Harbour and Elbow Beach have been redone.

Bermuda has to take care with its hotels. First, it must stop redeveloping them on an ad hoc basis and at the whim of new owners. It must have a generally accepted plan for development of hotel sites, old and new, which avoids public hoo-ha and political turmoil every time there is a new scheme.

We must decide whether or not it is acceptable to turn old hotel sites into condos or if these sites might not be more valuable to Bermuda if they are protected for future hotel use. The plan should make it clear to owners that they need not bother to apply for such things as "palaces'' on the dunes and that Bermuda will guard against non-Bermudians speculating in Bermuda's real estate.

Right now, instead of a plan we have chaos and unanswered questions.

Clearly the Elbow Beach scheme is out of line with what the people want for their Bermuda. According to the Hon. Quinton Edness, the Health Minister, it is also out of line with what the Cabinet agreed with Elbow Beach even though the Minister of Tourism, the Hon. C.V. Woolridge did not tell us that.

We have not been told what future the Ritz-Carlton scheme has but there seems to be growing acceptance that Ritz-Carlton is a non-starter. If it is a non-starter, then Bermuda should be planning the future of the run-down, chaotic Ritz-Carlton site before it becomes a worse eye-sore.

If Government is going to allow Elbow Beach to expand and Ritz-Carlton to go ahead, then will it break the moratorium on the number of hotel beds? We think that if Elbow Beach is expanded and Ritz-Carlton does go ahead, they will wipe out customers and profits for smaller properties and older hotels. Will Government hold to the moratorium and take away the hotel beds from the old Bermudiana Hotel and from Club Med. If it takes away the beds from these hotels, will there be any chance of selling the Bermudiana and Club Med as revenue producers for Bermuda? The public has a right to answers to these questions before it is asked to even think about "palaces'' on the dunes and multi-million dollar condos.