I BEGIN this piece with the revelation that, contrary to appearances, the reported plan being pursued in high (and not so high) places to effect the appointment of Mr. Justice Richard Ground, OBE, QC to the post of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bermuda was hatched at least four years ago. About the same time, coincidentally, that (upon one of the two conflicting versions of events) HSBC was to take over "our" Bank of Bermuda.

Any suggestion that Mr. Ground's name has only recently surfaced in this context is to my knowledge utterly false and should be dismissed as pure spin-doctoring.

Likewise, the claim that some unnamed and unidentified "committee" of the legal and powerful appointed by Governor Sir John Vereker has magically and, after much hand-wringing, identified Mr. Ground, an Englishman with few (or no) connections or family ties to our island home and our culture, as "the best choice" for appointment to the highest judicial office in the land.

The plan to appoint Richard Ground did not suddenly arise from the regrettable and untimely decision of Chief Justice Austin Ward to take early retirement on health grounds. I distinctly recall being informed that this was to be the case shortly after Mr. Ground's contract as Puisne Judge in Bermuda was terminated and he had left for the Turks and Caicos to assume judicial office there. The information came to me through a senior officer of the Bermuda Bar Council who I will not name at this time but who I can identify, if pressed.

If effected, this scheme could have far-reaching and extremely negative ramifications for Bermuda, for respect for the judiciary and for our very natural desire as a people to be responsible for, and to conduct, our own governance. It must be opposed.

This issue will most certainly take centre stage when Premier Alex Scott next week finds himself in conference with Mr. Bill Rammell, the UK Minister of State with responsibility for the Overseas Territories. If necessary, Premier Scott is likely to take the matter higher still such is his ? and the Progressive Labour Party's ? conviction in this regard. And it is to be hoped that this matter will not evolve into an unseemly constitutional crisis.

The depth of feeling within Government and PLP circles should not be underestimated. And it would not be out of place to remind all concerned that the appointment of Mr. Ground would contravene the express wish of the elected Government of the people of Bermuda, notwithstanding the constitutional position that the appointment of Chief Justice is the province of the Governor. The Chief Justice's salary (and, for that matter, that of the Governor) is a matter for the Bermuda Government.

Premier Scott has expressed very clearly the position of both the Government and the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party on this issue: there is no justification whatsoever for ignoring the wealth of available Bermudian talent, a view echoed by Bermuda Public Services Union secretary Ed Ball.

Moreover, so goes the argument, there is in particular no justification for passing over the application of Bermudian judge Mrs. Justice Norma Wade-Miller, who has performed with respect and distinction and without a hint of valid criticism as a Puisne Judge and often as Acting Chief Justice.

Let us stipulate at once that Richard Ground is a jurist of proven and exceptional ability, probity and integrity. Having distinguished himself from an early age at the English Bar, he moved on to serve the British Government by assuming judicial office overseas.

He could easily have assumed high judicial office in the UK itself and could by now have been a candidate for the UK Court of Appeal.

Let us also accept that Mr. Ground's grasp of legal concepts and his capacity to analyse and evaluate evidence and to draw only the most reasonable inferences and to express them with clarity in the legal vernacular are all of the very highest calibre. Any country would be well served by his contributions in the legal sphere.

Most importantly, Mr. Ground has a proven record of competence in the resolution of complex commercial disputes ? no insignificant issue when we accept that Bermuda has rapidly become a major player in the world of international re-insurance, trade and finance. For it has been an open, and embarrassing, secret that Bermuda's judicial bench is in dire need of "heavyweights" in the commercial realm, a deficiency which could threaten our standing in world markets.

So this is not about the man himself.

It is about the fact that our Chief Justice should, unless unavailability is clearly and undeniably demonstrated, be Bermudian. It is time for Bermudians who want to assume real control and responsibility for our national destiny to stop apologising for this view and to stand up and respond on rational grounds to those who would have it otherwise. Ultimately we, and we alone, have responsibility for our direction and for our actions.

The Chief Justice is more than an office. It is also a symbol. His or her deportment and conduct in office is a sign of our advancement.

While no one doubts the quality of Mr. Ground as a judge and jurist, there something fundamentally troubling and unsound in the suggestion that we need at this stage in our development to import into our shores the holder of the highest judicial office in the land.

Whether we are talking about the individual who leads the judiciary at the ceremonial opening of Parliament (the Throne Speech) or of the person most directly and frequently in touch with the Government of the day in co-ordinating matters of policy with respect to the administration of justice, we should be hard pressed to find a reason for bypassing the wealth of home-grown knowledge and experience of our culture and our people in favour of a foreigner.

Something is clearly amiss in the suggestion we cannot find a Bermudian Chief Justice at this time. And we owe it to ourselves to ask: "Just what is really going on?"

Within both legal and political circles, there is now much debate regarding the origin of the plan to appoint Richard Ground to the post of Chief Justice.

According to one version, Mr. Ground's ability to fill the above stated lacuna in judicial commercial competence (combined, it is said, with his insistence that he will take a judgeship in Bermuda only if he is to be the Chief) has apparently made it difficult to decline his offer.

According to a second view, Mr. Ground is said to be regarded by the larger, predominantly white, law firms as "their man", someone they can "do business with".

And the third view is that, Mr. Ground's ultimate masters being the UK Government ? some have posited MI6, the British Intelligence Service ? his appointment would serve the British interest in maintaining control over Overseas Territories in areas, such as taxation, money-laundering and terrorism, where Britain has apparently found a new basis for a more hands-on approach to their colonies.

Whichever of the three, let us put paid at once to the suggestion that the issue of appointment of our Chief Justice, as the editor of has argued, "should be taken from outside of the political realm".

However stridently we adhere to the notion of independence of the judiciary or "separation of powers", the appointment of judges ? particularly the holder of the highest judicial office ? is always and inexorably an intensely political matter.

Just ask George Bush, who owes his "election" (more accurately, his selection) as President of the United States of America to his own father's appointees to the Supreme Court of the United States.

I recall many years ago how the late Mr. Justice Earle Seaton, whose judicial and international legal experience dwarfed that of all other candidates, was passed over in favour of (then Mr., now Sir) James Astwood for the simple reason that Mr. Seaton appeared to be the candidate supported by the Opposition Progressive Labour Party.

While we expect and have every reason to suppose that our judicial officers will stay well above and beyond the cut and thrust of the political fray, it is a fact that the struggling and competing economic and political powers in this little island want to know that Bermuda's judges are people with whom they can "do business" ? and I mean this in no questionable way. It is simply a component of our nature.

Bermudian lawyers and law students must be allowed and encouraged to aspire to high judicial office and community service. It would be wrong to instill in our own people a lingering doubt regarding the fairness of the process or their ability to ultimately serve their island home from the highest tower.

The Bermudian family itself must be imbued with the sense that we can resolve fairly and dispassionately our own disputes, without the need to rely upon experts brought in and paid for by us on the flimsy argument that we are incapable of treating each other fairly.

We may be "British" but, first and foremost, we are Bermudian. Opposition Leader Dr. Grant Gibbons recently acknowledged that there have been and will be times when the interests of Bermuda directly conflict with those of the UK and that it is the responsibility of the Bermuda Government to safeguard our interests as a people.

Clearly he accepts that Bermudians are not interested in rolling back the colonial clock. And, clearly, the appointment of an English non-Bermudian to the highest judicial office in our land at the beginning of the 21st century will look alarmingly like a throwback to 1950.