Costs, corruption and citizenship were uppermost in the minds of more the than 70 people who attended the first of Government's three planned town meetings on the question of Independence and the August 15 referendum.

Despite a slow start, the meeting quickly gathered momentum and lasted two hours and fifteen minutes.

Although the audience contained several of the United Bermuda Party faithful -- Cabinet ministers, senators, Young United Bermuda devotees and caucus members including Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan -- there were also a few vocal and ardent Progressive Labour Party supporters.

Finance Minister the Hon. Dr. David Saul chaired the meeting in the absence of Deputy Premier the Hon. John Irving Pearman, who was attending an International Labour Organisation meeting in Geneva.

Dr. Saul said the meeting was intended to be an educational exercise and there was no intention on Government's part to tell people how or what to think.

One man asked how an Independent Bermuda would avoid corruption which could come about, he said, if the Public Service Commission, the Judicial and Legal Service Commission and the Police Service Commission were allowed to have the same people sit on them.

Dr. Saul said that of the three Commissions, the Judicial and Legal Commission was completely separate with the restrictions that only a member of the bar could serve.

Moreover, Dr. Saul said the Public Services Commission had, since 1968, always been a group of people selected for their integrity above all things and it too will stand alone.

Regarding the Police Service Commission, the Finance Minister said it would be a very restricted arena because the Police Service is already a disciplined and uniform organisation.

"If you think about it you will know the type of person who is going to be on the Judicial Commission,'' he said. "And you will know from your own experience who will be on the Public Service Commission and you can appreciate the kind of individual who will be dealing with the Police matters.

"Everyone can rest assured that with that diverse group, with their own experience, there will be basically very little chance of there being any corruption.'' One woman sought clarification on how her status would change at Independence.

"Are we British subjects?'' she asked. "If we are British subjects, would that change at Independence?'' Dr. Saul said Bermudians, as long as the Island remained a colony, were subjects of Britain but citizens of a British Dependent Territory.

At Independence, he said we would become Bermudian citizens and subjects of Bermuda.

Mr. Reggie Semos asked whether the committee that put the Green Paper together had "done its sums right'' when it came to calculating the costs of taking Bermuda to Independence.

He said that while the Green Paper had set the figure at $2.3 million he had heard figures as high as $10 million dollars being talked about.

Dr. Saul said the Green Paper had set out the most prudent and conservative position that the Government could justify.

"Our intention was to telegraph to the people of Bermuda that we would intend to treat foreign affairs in the most (financially) conservative manner possible.

"We wanted through that Green Paper to send a signal to all and sundry that whenever that day comes its not going to be jam for the boys or jobs for the boys.''