Having heard the announcement several times on the TV that the Library would issue new cards in September (without cost) and renew old ones, I made a point of visiting there this morning.

When I requested my library card be renewed the two librarians behind the counter on the ground floor assured me that they had no idea what I was talking about! While gathering my things together another lady came in and asked them the same question...one librarian said to wait and went upstairs to make enquiries. She returned about five minutes later and said no-one in the library knew anything about this - Mrs. Brangman the chief librarian was not there.

I fail to understand why money should be spent making such an announcement on TV without informing the staff.

P.BURNS City of Hamilton Apartment pushed up tax The following letter was sent by Finance Minister Eugene Cox to Gary Kent Smith of Sandys Parish and was copied to The Royal Gazette .

September 2, 1999 Dear Mr. Smith, Further to my letter to you of 6th August, 1999, and which addresses the concern you raised in a Letter to the Editor of The Royal Gazette published on 14th of July, 1999, I have been provided with some additional information with regard to the revaluation of your family's residence in St. George's.

I have been made to understand that the property, located 47 York Street in St. George's, had been inspected for stamp duty purposes. That inspection brought to light the fact that a small laundry area in the basement area of the property had been extended and converted into an apartment. It has also been noted that the Land Valuation Department has not received a completion certificate for the works, which were carried out in the last decade.

The increase in the assessment was merely to include this area in the assessment of the main unit for tax purposes. I understand now that the Land Valuation Officer has, in fact, discussed this particular topic with you and that you are satisfied that the changes to the assessment are valid and correct.

Yours faithfully, C. EUGENE COX Minister of Finance Causes of illiteracy September 7, 1999 Dear Sir, Entertainment and sports have always been acceptable endeavours for black people even when every other opportunity was denied them. Perhaps that is why the BIU president has to be concerned that only white expatriates and very few black Bermudians take advantage of the Bermuda College extension courses. We spend our time in entertaining and being entertained. Our very young make the sacrifice to become majorettes but not to become literate.

We emulate so much that is in the white community. Why have we not emulated their policy of ensuring that our young people have the security that comes with the stability, the continuity and the pride that comes from being in the same environment with the same community and the same parental support from primary school through to secondary education? Our children in the black community experience the least stability, the most family disruption, the most illiterate environment, the least parental support and the most neglect and they are the ones that have to readjust as they are shunted to a new environment and a new school every few years without any serious avenue for building consistent community support.

Any time that an educational institution has attempted to turn out young black people with a purpose it has been destroyed. The Technical Institute was destroyed. The Girls School and the Prospect School for Girls under Miss. May Francis and Miss. Dorothy Thompson were destroyed. Even the values being instilled by the sacrifice and commitment of the parents at Howard Academy was seen as too great a threat to support. To change the names from Warwick Secondary to Spice Valley and from St. George's Secondary to Clearwater may seem a small thing but it ensured that even in names, for blacks there is no continuity. Perhaps it was the Governing Body at Sandys that ensured that at least something of their past remained the same. Considering Canada's attitude towards black people and since we are so undisciplined and uninterested in learning, we were most unwise to follow the advice of Canadians and dump a thousand students up at CedarBridge without even the three sub-divisions that we were once promised. No wonder that as our economy grows more sophisticated, we are growing more illiterate rather than less. If we are not learning to read, neither are we learning any of the other disciplines necessary to participate constructively in our society or economy. No wonder we are not at the extension courses at the College. It was the UBP policy and intent and we should find a way to change all of it.

EVA N. HODGSON Crawl Praying for service September 4, 1999 Dear Sir, I was interested in the recent confession from the Bermuda Telephone Company that its service had for some time been less than it should have been. This was accompanied by an avowed intention to improve things. Everyone outside the BTC has known for a long time that service varied from atrocious to non-existent. Even the directors of BTC have confirmed the extent of their embarrassment with the collapse of decent service by refusing to list themselves in the inadequately distributed directory as they used proudly to do.

On Wednesday my telephones were knocked out by lightning. Buoyed by the hope that something might come of BTC's promises of improvement I called to report my loss of service. The young lady who took the call was polite and may be presumed to have recorded the information -- asking for a "contact'' number so BTC could call when they get around to the necessary repairs. I am retired and have no such "contact'' number, but hopefully gave the number of a friend. She then resolutely refused to give any estimate of my expected wait.

I have since heard that return of service is unlikely this year and even that I might be lucky to have service restored this millennium (which ends on December 21, 2000 -- not at the end of this year).

May I suggest to the shamefaced directors of BTC that the first step towards improvement of their dismal operation would be to provide an estimate of the time lapse between reporting a disruption of service and its anticipated repair -- even if the wait is as much as 18 months? Their customer could then string wire and tap into a friendly neighbour's service. In the meantime I have a couple of other suggestions: compel BTC to provide free service for twice the length of time they have provided no service; fire the entire management and bring in a competent group, preferably not Bermudian; sell BTC to an efficient group -- perhaps a foreign telecommunications company.

Government would surely waive the 60 percent/40 percent rule as they must suffer just as much as the rest of us. As things stand the best hope for BTC customers seems to be 975.

TONE DEAF City of Hamilton A permanent monument August 31, 1999 Dear Sir, The wall on the Harbour Road, in Warwick, was a gaping, dangerous hole until one of your correspondents brought it to Government's attention.

Four workmen and a cement mixer were subsequently despatched, and took an entire day to repair the damage. As none of them (including their supervisor) thought to clean up the debris, which has fallen on the foreshore when the wall was damaged, it will serve as a permanent monument to the laziness and incompetence of this generation.

We had better hope that the electorate comes to its senses when it casts its vote next time, or none of us will have any future...unless, of course, we are in the business of importing champagne! APPREHENSIVE Paget Embargo booster kits September 3, 1999 Dear Sir, What has gone wrong with our new Ministers? To think that anyone would even dream up the idea of bigger cars and more powerful bikes, never mind actually letting it get to the discussion stage, is absolutely appalling.

As it is, BMW's and the like should be banned, as they are simply not geared to our speed limit, and as for the lame excuse of having to remove bumpers: what nonsense. Many cars nowadays do not even have bumpers, and no one seems to think that is a problem. Bigger cars mean more power, higher speeds, larger parking areas and more pollution, and more accidents. How can anyone even think of such a thing? The trend worldwide is towards smaller cars, and there are many different models available.

As for more powerful bikes, well, we all know that most of the accidents on the roads are due to the number of crazy bike riders, and we have all been intimidated at one time or another by unmuffled engines and wild zooming between traffic.

The kits that soup up the existing models should be on the embargo list, and although there will be a certain criminal element that will try to smuggle them in to the island, surely they will be the exception and not the norm.

I hope that someone in the House will have the good sense to see how disastrous this would be, and the courage to say so. Where are the Ann Cartwrights and Trevor Moniz's of the PLP? Please let us do what's best for our tiny Island.

E.RABEN Paget Warwick shop to close September 7, 1999 Dear Sir, After being "in business'' for over 50 years, the Warwick Community Shop is closing down at the end of September this year. It was started originally by volunteers, under the auspices and for the benefit of the Warwick Welfare Society. When the Welfare Societies were taken over by the Government in the 1960s, the shop continued to operate for the benefit of the Lorraine Home for the elderly in Warwick and for other worthy causes in the Parish. Now, however, it is increasingly difficult to find volunteers, and our small shop has been superseded by larger organisations.

The Committee would like to thank all those regular volunteers, suppliers and customers who over many years have helped us to help others. We hope they will continue to help similar organisations.

ELSIE YOUNG, RUTH SIMMONS, JEAN VICKERS, MARY JOHNSON, MIRIAM WEBB- TROTT, VERA BASCOME, EILEEN SHARPE Committee Executive -- past and present Happy to respond September 3, 1999 Dear Sir, I had the unique opportunity to receive a letter post-marked July 26, 1999 from an unidentified person who seems upset by my previous placement of an advertisement for a housekeeper/mother's helper. If the author had had the courage to sign his/her name, I would have been glad to respond to their questions about my national origin, my upbringing and the way in which I treat people.

I really would have appreciated the opportunity to soothe his/her fragile temperament, much in the same way I do when my nine-month-old son hasn't had his afternoon nap.

ROBIN HAMILL Flatts Village