governments in order to meet human needs. To cope with the worst economic climate since the Second World War, Bermuda's Government engaged in some very severe but very necessary Budget cuts. But now the recession seems to be easing, if only a little, and we think Government should be looking at opportunities to spend some money on Bermuda's roads.

There was a time when Bermuda could be proud of its roads, especially when travel abroad demonstrated for Bermudians the poor state of roads in other countries. But we can no longer take pride. Bermuda's roads are in a shocking condition. We clean them. We trim the hedges. We edge the roads with cement to impede weed growth. We repair the railings.

We do all those things but we allow the road surfaces to remain crossed with uneven trenches, holed and ridged. To be fair, most of this damage is caused not by wear and tear or by Government neglect but by the utility companies providing additional and better services to the public or by those companies placing lines underground after the lessons of Hurricane Emily.

There is no doubt that people want their electric and telephone services to be more certain and less threatened by the weather. People also want cable TV which requires the small trenches so visible on some roads. Some trenches also accommodate water supply which is being extended to more than just the City of Hamilton. We accept that these are public benefits and that the work is carried out in response to public demand for service.

After large trenches are filled, these trenches become either a bump or a sump and, either way, they become a road hazard. These trenches are added to normal damage to the roads, to narrow trenches and to repairs around man holes and make the roads difficult to use.

However we must remember that the roads are primarily for public traffic and that is becoming uncomfortable, especially in a Country where so many people, locals and visitors, ride cycles of one sort or another.

It is true that the road surface is not too bad for car drivers but it is difficult for cycles. Somehow Bermudians adapt but bad roads must be a hazard for a visitor who is riding an unfamiliar moped on a strange road on the "wrong side'' of that road. In fact, the bad roads must be a general danger to locals and to visitors on cycles.

We think the problems arise because of partial resurfacing of the trench area.

The result of the patching is very seldom satisfactory and the road is almost always bumped or ridged. The only real solution is a total resurfacing to leave the public with good roads.

We do not think it is true, as one so often hears said in Bermuda, that as soon as Government surfaces a road "someone'' will come along and dig it up.

However, we do think that it should be possible to schedule the trenching to mesh with regular plans to resurface the roads so that good roads are not torn up. We also think that the companies trenching should be required to leave the roads in good condition, without trenches, ruts or bumps. If they schedule trenching for times when Government plans to resurface the roads, then they can piggy back on Government's new surfaces. If they do not, then they should provide a total new surface to make the roads good and without trenches.