to ask for change.

And a conference into Constitutional Reform and Democracy in Bermuda also suggested a smaller House of Assembly with full time Members of Parliament.

But Government representatives called for little change to the present constitution which has stood for 25 years.

A number of speakers, including politicians, were involved in the conference over the weekend at Bermuda College's Stonington Campus. The debate was often lively but never heated during yesterday's discussion on the future of the constitution.

Speakers yesterday included Shadow Education Minister Ms Jennifer Smith in the chair, Human Affairs Minister the Hon. Jerome Dill and Progressive Labour Party press officer Ms Paula Cox.

The debate ranged in topics but during a discussion on equalising numbers of voters in constituencies, Opposition members spoke of lowering the numbers in Parliament to possibly 30 members instead of the present 40.

Mr. Dill asked: "Do you want a much smaller House? So you have a House of 30, therefore you have a majority of 16, does that mean we will reduce the size of your cabinet? "That means that with a smaller cabinet you have potentially four people deciding the future of the Country.'' Organiser of the conference, Mr. Walton Brown said: "A Cabinet of 14 is quite excessive in a country the size of Bermuda. A House of 40 members is quite large for a population of 60,000.

"Would we feel comfortable with a majority of four or five deciding Government policy? We have a situation now where one Minister can make a decision under his portfolio.'' Mr. Dill said that people in the constituencies wanted larger and larger numbers of people involved in the decision-making process.

Audience member Shadow Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Mr. Alex Scott added more Bermudians should be encouraged to get involved in politics.

Mr. Dill pointed out that nearly 80 percent of Bermudians voted in the election, an almost unheard of figure elsewhere in the world.

Former Premier the Hon. Sir John Sharpe, also in the audience, said: "When we think in terms of a small Cabinet you have got to think in terms of a full time politician.'' Sir John added that if the PLP had been in Government 10 years ago, with full-time politicians, Shadow Finance Minister Mr. Eugene Cox, also in the audience, would have had to give up a good position for a "temporary moment of glory''.

He said: "With a full-time Cabinet we would not have the David Sauls and Jerome Dills serving in the House.'' Mr. Dill agreed, stating the same principle applied if a young man was starting a career and then wanted to move into politics. He said: "What kind of people would you get coming forward to discharge these obligations?'' But Mr. Scott hit back, stating: "People would be looking at what they were giving up but they would also be looking at how they could contribute.

People would be willing to make a sacrifice.'' Mr. Scott said serious consideration should be given by Government on the question of Independence. On Saturday, veteran lawyer and politician Mr.

Arnold Francis had said Independence for Bermuda was not a question of "if'', but "when''.

Mr. Dill replied that he was willing to discuss independence, or "any other subject'', but added: "We know that the majority of people of Bermuda are saying that it's not that important to them.'' Opposition MPs and Mr. Brown called for more leadership from Premier the Hon.

Sir John Swan to commence discussions on Independence instead of saying the people should decide when discussions should begin.