by private individuals and then ignoring them or deciding to do something quite different. These reports range from drugs and alcohol, to business competitiveness to traffic. Somehow or other the report is seen as a solution and there is quiet agreement that having dampened public concern by commissioning the report, Government needs to do little else.

Many of these reports take endless hours of work...free work...by concerned people in the community who eventually conclude that they have simply wasted their time.

That is what is about to happen to Bermuda's new historic buildings register.

The register took seven years of work, endless research and visits to thousands of houses by a dedicated committee set-up by Ann Cartwright DeCouto when she was Minister of the Environment. The architecturally important or historic houses are graded I, II and III according to their importance and according to whether or not they have been changed a little or a great deal over the years. Grade I, of course, has the heaviest restrictions and requires home owners who are repairing to replace like with like which is not so easy these days.

The list includes some 880 properties including Rural Hill at Grape Bay Drive, Paget, the home of the current Minister of the Environment, Harry Soares.

Having announced the project to the public and asked those who have properties on the list whether or not they agree with the listing, Mr. Soares now seems to be changing his mind. It may be that if you object your property will not be listed. Mr. Soares has said that he wants people to agree voluntarily to the listings.

That's nice for Mr. Soares and for some other owners who do not appear to be conservation minded but it does defeat the object of the entire exercise. As the spokeswoman for the Bermuda National Trust has been quoted as saying: "That would be rather like allowing developers to choose whether or not to abide by zoning under the development plan.'' If Government wants to put the list in place and then find ways to help people who might find the restrictions onerous that is totally acceptable. It has been suggested that Government should lift land taxes on listed houses so that owners can be helped with replacing like with like instead of replacing wooden windows with metal or plastic ones.

If Government was not serious about preserving Bermuda's architecture which is unique in the world, then why did it create the Historic Buildings Committee? We now have a half-baked approach. We do understand that an Election is fast approaching and Government does not want to offend a single voter. But the long term result could be the destruction of important properties and vital parts of Bermuda's heritage.

List the properties. Put the restrictions in place and then work out ways to help those who might suffer from the regulations. If Government did not want to protect buildings and architecture it should have decided that before the study was created.