December 29, 2011Dear Sir,I read your report on the recent budget statement and wish to make some comments.The goodThe burgeoning bureaucracy. I came to Bermuda in 1970 to take up the office of Parliamentary Counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers. In those days there were three of us, the Attorney General John Summerfield (later Sir John), the Solicitor General, Tony Sedgewick, and myself. We three provided all legislative, prosecutorial, litigation and advisory services to government. Legislatively 1970 was a productive year. The foundation of Bermuda’s social welfare system The Contributory Pensions Act, the Hospital Insurance Act and the Bermuda Hospitals Board Act and to a lesser extent, business structure The Companies (Incorporation by Registration Act) and the Customs Tariff Act were generated in my head and articulated by my pen.There is still an Attorney General and a Solicitor General but, in addition, there are 20 to 25 other lawyers in the AG’s Chambers, the DPP’s office, Finance and the BMA. If one adds in the cost of office space, secretarial and administrative services, housing subsidies, etc., but excluding ongoing liability for employment and CPP pensions, the annual cost is probably about $5 million.In 1970 I was paid $12,000 per annum and have no pension from Bermuda. To paraphrase or modify Churchill, never in the field of public administration has so much been owed by so few for the product of so many.The badThe procreation nation. I read in The Royal Gazette that one of the victims of the recent gang violence in Bermuda was the father of ten children. The report did not indicate how many of them he supported financially. My comment is that too many people in Bermuda regard sex as merely a recreational activity and are not prepared to accept the resultant financial responsibility. The cost of education, and in most cases, other social problems consequent on this activity, is borne by the Government.The uglyDefinitely not cricket. A couple of years ago the government gave $11 million to Bermuda’s World Cup Cricket team. This was a preposterous expenditure. Each run scored by a resident Bermudian would have cost the taxpayers $57,000, but the government cannot afford to take care of the indigent elderly or subsidise the cost of maintaining a hostel for unwanted or unfortunate children. In a previous cricket tournament in which Bermuda competed (1976) the government contribution consisted of a supportive letter from the Hon Lancelot Swan, the Minister responsible for sport.So much for the compassionate society.RAYMOND MOORECharlottetown, Prince Edward Island