their hair out over arrangements for the World Conference of Mayors which is scheduled to be held here in October.

The organisation hired by the World Conference of Mayors to promote the prestigious conference seems to be in conflict with just about everyone from hotels to tourism to officialdom. There can be little doubt that Bermuda's representatives have gone the extra mile to help and that, despite accusations to the contrary, they want this conference to be held in Bermuda. Yet if you listen to the complaining you might well think that Bermuda is somehow anti-Mayors.

Much to our surprise, it has been stated that the Ministry of Tourism paid a finders fee of $15,000 to the African American Global Trade and Tourism Council which plans to bring the conference to Bermuda. The Ministry is also sponsoring the conference in the amount of $100,000 and $25,000 of that has already been paid to the World Conference of Mayors.

The organising company says that the rest of the $100,000 should be paid now.

The Minister of Tourism says that it cannot be paid because no organising and marketing plan for the conference has appeared. We must presume that the $100,000 was intended by the Ministry of Tourism to be used to promote the Mayors' Conference and help make it a success. It is now early September and the conference is set for October and if there is no marketing plan, then clearly the Ministry of Tourism should hold on to the public's money. It is very late now to spend Bermuda's money marketing an October conference. The Ministry has a duty to know where Bermuda's money is going. We can only hope that if this conference does not take place, the Ministry of Tourism will be looking to get back the money it has paid out.

However, the Ministry is now being threatened with a lawsuit over the payment of the remainder of the $100,000. The threat of legal action, over which the Ministry is consulting with the Solicitor General, has served to make Tourism officials very cautious. Clearly they cannot suggest solutions while under threat of legal action.

It is in the best interests of Bermuda to solve these problems. Bermuda would like to host this conference but, at the same time, the Ministry of Tourism and other officials have to be sure where Bermuda's money is going. They must also be concerned that despite their efforts to help, they are getting bad publicity over this conference.

Bermuda and Bermuda's Tourism officials have a long history of dealing properly with such matters and great experience in assisting with large conferences held in Bermuda. They know what they are doing. Something is wrong in this instance and we do not know what it is but it would appear to be some kind of personality conflict.

It seems to us that from the very beginning this conference has been surrounded by accusations and acrimony. Bermuda does not normally do business like that and it may be that the conference is becoming more trouble than it is worth.