Dear Sir,As an historian of the period (Siren Songs, 2015), I was interested in, and also surprised by, home affairs minister Michael Fahy’s reported statement to your newspaper (February 8, 2016, page 1) that he “fully accepts” that in the 1960s and 1970s “Government manipulated immigration law to maximise votes”.That is a very serious statement for him to have made, and seemingly off-the-cuff (its seriousness, if true, would surely have merited a formal statement and apology in the Senate, or indeed in the House of Assembly by the Premier, on behalf of the Government of Bermuda).On what basis does Mr Fahy make that very large and embarrassing admission on behalf of the Government of Bermuda, and in relation to his predecessors-in-office and other policy-setting politicians from that earlier but not so very distant period? Will he please now inform the public of how he came to that conclusion, and release to the news media or otherwise share with us the relevant immigration board or Executive Council/Cabinet documents?Also, if what he says is true, has the matter been raised with the police or the Department of Public Prosecutions with a view to anyone (politicians or civil servants) being prosecuted for possible malfeasance in public office or for other offences, and if not, why not?It should be borne in mind that a number of politicians who were in Cabinet in the 1970s are still alive, including two former ministers with responsibility for immigration matters (CV “Jim” Woolridge and Sir John Swan, and Mr. Fahy’s rather sweeping comment would seem unfortunately to call their characters into question — I rather think, wholly unjustifiably). For what it is worth, I did not come across any indication of anything of the kind when reading the Executive Council/Cabinet minutes of the period (it is, of course, true that I was not specifically researching the point which he has suddenly raised), and indeed, as far as I recall, the only assertion that has been made along those lines in recent times was by Progressive Labour Party parliamentarian Walton Brown in his book from a few years ago, and as I recall it seemed to be a rather wild extrapolation from racial census statistics pertaining to immigration rather than adducing any actual evidence of any dubious or improper government policy or individual malfeasance in that regard. As this is a matter of considerable historical importance, Mr Fahy should clarify and substantiate his statement in this matter, so that posterity can have a clearer picture of exactly what he is referring to. Moreover, he should please lose no time in doing so.JONATHAN LAND EVANS