have been warning from the beginning of the Independence debate that there was a major downside to the consideration on Independence. As former Cabinet Minister Michael Winfield said in our story yesterday, "The best possible scenario for success is stability.'' Any hint of uncertainty or confusion and business interests who have millions and millions of dollars to protect become uncomfortable and very wary.

There is a pattern to the establishment of international company business and Bermuda is a part of that pattern. The business is very mobile. If the business is threatened it can and will find another location which is stable and welcoming. Just as Bermuda reaped huge benefits when Sir Lynden Pindling gave the insurance industry cause to leave the Bahamas, so another country could benefit if Bermuda were to make a mistake.

Non-Bermudians are already forced to tolerate one constant source of unpleasantness. It is something which they do not face in some other jurisdictions, notably Cayman. That is the constant unpleasantness which some Bermudians continue to hurl at ex-pats. Some of the abuse is simply stupidity, some is political noise and some of it is racial but whatever the cause it fails to consider the huge value of non-Bermudian workers to Bermuda.

Bermudians should not be confused. There are countries which are ready, willing and able to welcome the international business which is presently in Bermuda and any other business which decides not to come here because it detects confusion in Bermuda. We are told that companies are still coming here but the unknown about the whole Independence debate is how many companies might have flocked here after the reassuring United Bermuda Party victory but were put off by the uncertainty of Independence.

Much of the trouble is that companies do not know what their position will be in Bermuda after Independence. Those people who tell Bermudians that we will have "business as usual'' are lying. International company leaders do not say that out loud because they are polite guests in Bermuda and because they do not want to be accused of interfering in local politics.

One of their great concerns is judicial stability. They are very concerned that after Independence Bermuda might create an all local Court of Appeal and, worse, might abandon the right of appeal to the Privy Council. Companies which might at one time or another have multi-million dollar disputes to settle must be reassured that the disputes will be properly dealt with by trained and competent legal minds without parochial bias. In a Country where there is no tradition of leading lawyers going to the bench, they would be naturally reluctant to have their cases heard by lawyers who failed in private practice and decided to try the bench.

In the pattern of establishing international company centres, some companies are natural leaders of the flock. Those leaders are tremendously important. If one of them decided to leave because Bermuda was no longer comfortable, then others would immediately follow.

Bermuda would then have a major problem. There are a large number of Bermudians who have been encouraged to prepare themselves for good jobs. These people would not be employed and their expectations would be dashed if the companies started to leave.