be closed by 1995, according to Deputy Governor Mr. John Kelly.

Mr. Kelly was responding to statements by the Premier, who had said he had not expected the Royal Navy's West End base to be closed by early 1995 -- although he had been aware Britain was considering shutting the base down.

And Mr. Kelly also hit back at Sir John's statement that the base's closure represented "a further erosion of ties with Britain''.

But Mr. Kelly said on Friday the decision to close HMS Malabar at Dockyard was not taken out of the blue.

He said Sir John had known since June of the high likelihood that HMS Malabar would close in less than two years.

Mr. Kelly said he was worried that Sir John's statements were misleading and wanted to set the record straight.

"Britain does care and defence links will be maintained,'' he said, noting the Opposition had followed up on the closure announcement by saying it appeared to be a big nudge towards Independence and showed Britain "did not care'' about Bermuda.

Mr. Kelly insisted Britain was not trying to sever ties with Bermuda by ending more than two centuries of British naval presence on the Island.

Britain gave careful consideration to closing Malabar and kept Bermuda's best interests in mind, he said.

The British Government's position on independence for Bermuda has "always been clear'', he added.

"We are not pushing the Island towards it or holding it back from it,'' he said.

"The British Government dealt with the Malabar issue in a very caring way.

"The Premier was informed and it may have given the wrong impression when he says (the closure) was something that could have waited.'' After an official announcement on the April 1995 closure was made in the British Parliament earlier this month, Sir John, noting the withdrawal would occur just six months before the likely closure date of the US Naval Air Station and two years since the Canadian Forces withdrew, said Britain country "could have given us more time''.

But Mr. Kelly said: "The British Government took stock of where it was in terms of defence expenditure and had to make a major savings -- part of that consideration was Malabar and the Premier was made aware of that.''