Deputy Governor Mr. Peter Willis yesterday stamped on suggestions Britain was thwarting Independence moves by Gibraltar.

He said Britain firmly believed the people in all its dependent territories had the right to decide their future.

Chairperson of the Committee for the Independence of Bermuda, Mr. Walton Brown Jr., however, presented a different picture.

He said the people of Gibraltar had elected a leader strongly committed to self-determination.

"But they are being frustrated by the British,'' said Mr. Brown.

He also spoke of a yearning by the Government in the Falkland Islands for Independence -- once the economy had sufficiently developed.

Mr. Brown's comments stemmed from a United Nations decolonisation seminar this month in Trinidad and Tobago.

He said the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Mr. Joe Bossano -- the Bermudian equivalent of Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan -- had made clear to the seminar he wanted Independence for his country.

"He was elected on a platform of self-determination and constitutional reform.'' Mr. Brown said Mr. Bossano referred to the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht as a major stumbling block for his countrymen.

Under the terms of the treaty, if Britain relinquished sovereignty over Gibraltar, Spain would have first right to lay claim to the island.

"He said that this was untenable,'' said Mr. Brown of Mr. Bossano.

Mr. Brown stressed the same treaty stated Jews and blacks should be prevented from going to Gibraltar.

"But nobody takes any notice of this part of the treaty, so why should Britain stick by the other part?''.

Mr. Brown added two Falklands Government representatives, Ms Norma Edwards and Mr. Bill Luxton, had hailed Independence as a goal.

"They wanted to wait for economic development to take place, then they would move in that direction.'' Mr. Brown claimed fears Argentina would try to capture the Falklands by force had diminished.

Argentina was ruled by a military junta anxious to please the public when it launched its 1982 invasion.

Mr. Brown said the seminar statements by Mr. Bossano, Ms Edwards and Mr.

Luxton had a relevance for Bermuda.

"People are always saying why go independent in Bermuda when there is no movement for it in the other dependent territories like the Cayman Islands.

But this shows other dependent territories do want self-determination.'' Yesterday, Mr. Willis said the British Government followed a "guiding principle'' : A dependent territory could achieve self-determination, if that was the wish of the majority of the people in it.

Mr. Willis said in the case of Gibraltar, Britain was bound by article 10 of the Treaty of Utrecht, which would give Spain first right of sovereignty should the UK pull out.

"It is not a policy, and it would be wrong to say Britain is in any way frustrating the wishes of those in Gibraltar.'' He added: "We are aware there is a keen debate in Gibraltar for self-determination. I am not aware of the same kind of debate in the Falkland Islands.'' Mr. Willis found it hard to believe the Falkland Islands would support Independence without Argentina dropping its claim to the country.