committee to address the closures of the Canadian, US and British bases.

Progressive Labour Party leader Mr. Frederick Wade made the call on Friday after accusing Government of not attaching enough urgency to the base closures.

He welcomed the Royal Navy pull-out and April, 1995 closure of HMS Malabar at Dockyard, announced in the British Parliament on Friday. The news did not come as a surprise, he said.

"It was logical. Bermuda is no longer valuable to the Americans and the British,'' Mr. Wade said.

The US Naval Air Station, on 1,100 acres of land in the East End, is likely to close six months after Malabar.

But Mr. Wade said: "We feel it presents wonderful opportunities for Bermuda.

We in the PLP have been asking for the land back for 30 years now. And we have been urging for several years for Bermuda to do what's in its best interest -- we are having a hard time convincing Government though.'' Mr. Wade was not happy with Government's handling of the base closures. A joint select committee of the House of Assembly should have been appointed, he said.

"We need a plan of action,'' he said. "We have seen (the Hon.) Sir John Swan setting up five committees to address the base closures. We have offered to serve on the negotiating committee and others, but we have not heard a word.'' Important base closure issues such as additional real estate and land, job losses and the impact on the economy all needed to be addressed, Mr. Wade said.

Opposition Senate Leader Sen. Milton Scott claimed in the Upper House on Friday that the Premier had indicated he had information on the Malabar closure earlier on.

And he should have made a statement in Parliament to inform people, Sen. Scott said.

Saying only four percent of the vote separated Government and Opposition, Sen.

Scott said the Progressive Labour Party wanted an equal role in negotiations.

Meanwhile, Mr. Walton Brown of the Committee for the Independence of Bermuda said Government continued "to sit passively by while other countries -- particularly Britain -- decided what was in their best interests and had no regard for the concerns of Bermuda and Bermudians.

"Premier Swan's dismay at the timing of the closure reflects the lack of respect shown to him by the British Government,'' the committee said in a news release. "This should prompt him to take action to chart Bermuda's course as we head toward the next millennium.'' The committee called for a non-partisan task force "to examine the range of external issues likely to affect Bermuda over the next five years and devise a number of recommendations for dealing with them.'' In announcing the Malabar closure on Friday, British Armed Forces Minister Mr.

Jeremy Hanley told the UK Parliament that the 20-acre base had in the past provided Britain with a "valuable asset in a strategically significant location in the Atlantic''.

"In the changed environment, however, its strategic importance has greatly diminished,'' he said.

Mr. Hanley said Royal Navy ships would continue to visit the British dependent territory to "maintain the service's close association with the Island.'' However, the Premier responded: "They can only send the ships if we are prepared to accommodate them.'' NATO nuclear ships and submarines needed expert handling, he said. After officially hearing of the Malabar closure on Thursday, Sir John said: "If we find it is not practical for us to deal with them then we cannot accommodate them at all.'' But Deputy Governor Mr. John Kelly said he would be surprised if Bermuda could not find a way to handle and service the ships.

Military ships frequently docked in Hamilton and Marine and Ports handled them well, he said.

One idea was for Wedco to take over the Malabar docking facility. Dealing with military ships "was not much different'' from cruise ships, he said.

Mr. Kelly said attaching a Royal Navy liaison officer to Bermuda after the Malabar closure was also a possibility.