registration. Government always maintains that it is doing its best to get Bermudians to register to vote by circulating every household and by constant advertising. The Progressive Labour Party proceeds the way it usually does and implies that there is some kind of plot on behalf of Government to keep people from registering.

Yearly registration is, of course, a useless exercise and a waste of time, money and effort and Bermuda really should give it up. PLP leader Mr.

Frederick Wade has said, "I`m tired of going through this.'' So is the public.

The UBP Government should be interested in protecting its own reputation by avoiding the accusations that it uses annual registration to its own advantage. Giving up the root cause of such an accusation is just one of the things which could be done to avoid political suspicion. In the meantime, it is the law this year and we have to follow the system. The truth is that Government makes yearly registration very easy, keeps it open for a long period, promotes it to the point of boredom and circulates easily understood forms to every household. That hardly suggests any attempt to keep people from registering.

The truth is that if people do not bother to register, it is difficult to force them to do so. The best that can be done is to make registration easy.

After that it is up to individuals to take the opportunity to look after their own interests.

The truth is that there are some people who do not want to register because, sometimes for religious reasons, they do not vote. There are also people who simply do not care one way or the other about politics and do not bother to vote.

The truth is that there are also people who are so fed up with politicians that they do not want to be a part of the system. Some people, of course, don't want to be told that they have to register.

The complaining really arises because the PLP thinks that this year's parliamentary register may be the one under which the next election is held.

We think they may well be right.

The PLP has a problem with parliamentary registration because it thinks the people who have a tendency not to register might be PLP supporters and might vote PLP at election time if only they were on the register. We have no means of knowing if that is true or not. If it is true, the PLP seems to be saying something rather disturbing. It seems to be saying that it gets its support from people who are unreliable to the point that they do not register to vote.

We find that implication insulting to people who do not register for all sorts of reasons and who may simply choose not to register. The truth is that voter registration is high in Bermuda compared to many other countries.

We saw a leading member of the PLP on TV suggesting that Government should canvass house to house to ensure that people register. Surely, he has that backward. If the PLP's leaders think that a low voter registration impacts on their party, why don't they canvass door to door? Government, basically, does a good job of trying to get people to register. If the PLP has a problem, they should solve the problem by getting out and about and getting people registered.

Total registration would be highly desirable. It's easy and simple to do. We should all do it.