It is time that both sides toned down the rhetoric in the row between the Bermuda Cement Company and the West End Development Company.

After 40 years as a tenant, first of the Government and then of Wedco, BCC's lease for the cement operation has been put out to tender.

While this may seem a little unfair for the sitting tenant, Wedco is within its rights to seek the highest bidder for the site as part of its function to make the Royal Naval Dockyard a viable operation.

BCC has not been barred from tendering, and given its knowledge of the industry and the site, one would imagine that it should be able to put in a competitive bid.

But BCC president Jim Butterfield has stated that he has been told on "pretty good authority that regardless of what our bid is, we are not going to get it. Even if it is the best bid, that we have been there 40 years and it's time for a change."

That was subsequently denied by both Premier Alex Scott and Wedco chairman Walter Lister, but not before Bermuda Industrial Union president MP Derrick Burgess added fuel to the fire by saying Government had to do things for "our people", that Mr. Butterfield and his fellow shareholders had the lease for long enough and that they had made enough money out of it and now it was someone else's turn.

Mr. Butterfield's response in an article in the Bermuda Sun was to compare the process to the seizure of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe, thus bringing the controversy to a boil.

Neither set of comments is helpful. There is no law capping how much money a company should make or how long it should be in business. Some people may believe that the BIU has been around long enough and it is time for a new union, but that does not mean it should be so, as long as its members wish it to continue.

By the same token, Mr. Butterfield's comments only serve to turn this into a race issue and that does no one any good.

Two broader questions are raised by the controversy. The first is how Wedco will determine the best bidder. Any new bidder will have to show how it can match 40 years of experience in the field and cover the investment of new equipment, since BCC has said it will take its equipment with if it is unsuccessful.

The risk is that if BCC does make a strong case that it did put in the best bid and does not get the tender, Government's credibility will be damaged.

The second question concerns the Government's ad hoc approach to "affirmative action". Some Ministers and MPs are unabashed in exercising it on an informal basis or promoting it, while others, including Premier Alex Scott, maintain that no such policy exists.

These mixed messages only confuse the public. An argument can be made in favour of opening up economic opportunities to black Bermudians, whose share of the Island's prosperity remains disproportionately low, although the stronger argument remains ensuring that all bidders operate on a level playing field.

But the current approach, combined with comments like Mr. Burgess's, can only cause uncertainty in the business community, and can only contribute to confused and racially tinged controversies like the one surrounding the BCC lease.