and Reid Streets, to house Bermuda's court system will be welcomed by both the judiciary and the legislature. Of course, this is not the first time Bermuda has heard of such a plan and it will not be the first time drawings have been prepared, but this time it appears it will come to fruition. There was once a plan which suggested incorporating Reid Street from Court Street to Parliament Street in the plan and locating the entire Government in one large city block.

Judges and magistrates will be especially happy since they have been working under makeshift and rather chaotic conditions for far too long. There should be dignity in the court system and in recent years tiny cramped courts up back stairways both at the Sessions House and at Court and Front Streets have not provided that. There has also been a lack of good office accommodation for judges who are very often required to hold private sessions in their inadequate chambers. Even the Chief Justice has had space far inferior to other senior officials.

Basically the main Supreme Court chamber has been acceptable and will probably now be redesigned as the Senate Chamber but the two smaller courts have always given the impression that they were very makeshift.

Aside from that, Magistrates have been housed in a building which was found to be inadequate as the main post office. The crowded Magistrates' Court conditions, especially during large plea courts, and the difficulty people have hearing in the often noisy courts have not been helpful to dignified courts and open justice.

In the Cabinet Building on Front Street, Senators have had an historic chamber but very little else. The President of the Senate only recently got an office and the Senate has been squashed in by the space demands of the Premier's office and the Cabinet. The present Senate Chamber will probably now become the Cabinet Room when the Senate moves to the Supreme Court.

Aside from the inconveniences involved in the housing, it has never seemed entirely sensible to have the Upper House of the Legislature mixed with the executive branch of Government in the Cabinet Building. The same thing has been true of having the Supreme Court share a building with the House of Assembly, especially having one court virtually intermingled with the caucus rooms and the members very inadequate lounge at the House of Assembly.

It seems to us that the whole system will be better structured, more efficient and more dignified for having the legislature in one building, the courts in another and the executive branch standing alone in the Cabinet Building.