This letter is about Government's ban on capital and corporal punishment. I go along with that only on the basis that people aren't fair with it. England banished it because they hanged the wrong man, it's quite a ticklish thing, and while we are on this subject this country in the Middle East who is noted for its fairness in dealing with this subject of capital and corporal punishment no matter who ran afoul of the law it could be from the Royal family if its Capital they are beheaded, but something happened this year that was quite embarrassing to them, and I have faith that my Lord Jesus had a hand in it, for years this country had a ban on all Christian Literature and the name of Christ is never hard, and if these laws are broken they will deal severely with you. There was three Europeans a man and two women committed crimes that carried Capital and Corporal punishment they did not know what to do this was something they did not want to happen so at last they set them free. So fairness went out the window, that's why I don't put my John Henry to things like this, as the Lord said "Mark The Perfect Man''. My advice to these people is open up your borders to Christ's people and ban those cruel laws and things will change for the better.

MR VIVIAN SIMMONS Somerset Who can we rely on? November 13, 1999 Dear Sir, Once we come to the realisation that we are governed by "man,'' the sooner we will realize why things are the way they are. Man is the most egotistical, selfish, self-serving of all the creatures put upon this earth, and because of "man,'' things will never change.

We can change governments, but we cannot change people. People have to change themselves. if we did unto others as we would have others do unto us, we would see a vast improvement in this world, but, unfortunately, greed, power, lust and all those other goodies, get in the way, thereby, complicating the whole works, and putting us where we are today! The PLP have been in power for one year and there have been complaints left and right. The UBP were in power for over 30 years and more than half the things people are complaining about, were leftovers from the UBP. Granted, the UBP left a sound economy, but then, a lot of that was because of self-interest. They ran the Country as a business which is all fine and dandy, but they neglected to look after a lot of the people's needs and the Country's problems. The PLP have to be careful not to add to these leftover problems by creating problems of their own, and that includes arrogance, indifference, and inflated egos.

We have had, and still have, some elected Government officials who were there, and are there, just for the glory of it all. There are too many people who are always looking for some station in life - some position where they feel they are superior to others. These people judge not by the contents of the heart, but rather by the bottom line of one's bank statement.

Unfortunately, the world we live in today is fraught with dishonesty, corruption and just plain old unadulterated evil - but when I stop and think, hasn't it always been that way? Wasn't that the reason Jesus Christ came about? To save us from our evil, sinful ways? If this is true, then it shows there is a lot of changing to be done before we can have decent people, consequently, decent governments that we can rely on to be there for the good of the people and the country.

I remember a joke my dear departed Grandmother told me long ago when I was a little girl. She said, "Every Sunday the Preacher's sermon was based on when "Gabriel Blows His Horn'' he and the congregation would hold hands and go forth together to the Promised Land.

There were some young men in the congregation who were tired of hearing the same old sermon. The next Sunday they gathered outside of one of the Church windows with a trumpet, and when the Preacher reached that part in the sermon where "Gabriel Blow His Horn,'' one of the young men trumpeted his horn. The Preacher, hearing this trumpeting, thinking it was Gabriel, jumped down from the pulpit and headed for the door. The congregation, seeing that the Preacher was leaving them behind, cried "Preacher! Preacher! What about us? And the Preacher replied, "Every man for himself, God for us all.'' The moral of this story is to ask "Who can we rely on - Preachers? Governments?'' PAT FERGUSON Warwick Putting it straight November 23, 1999 Dear Sir, I hope you will allow me the opportunity to set the record straight on several issues that you raised in your editorial Set Higher Standards,regarding PLP travel in Monday's Gazette.

First, let me state unequivocally that the PLP Government is not simply following UBP Government policies, either on travel spending or on credit card usage. Just because two current Ministers say so, doesn't mean it's true.

Unfortunately, the PLP Government has a habit of pointing fingers and looking backward instead of looking forward and shouldering responsibility for their own decisions.

I appreciate your attempt to compare PLP spending with the travel expenses of the previous Government. Care must be taken, however, not to confuse apples with oranges. For example, you point out that the UBP Government's travel tab was well over $1 million a year in January 1996. Quite true; however, this can not in any way be compared to the 1999 Cabinet Office travel expense, which recorded an over-the-annual-budget $158,000 in just the first six months of this fiscal year. The $1 million-plus UBP figure represents the amount spent on yearly travel by the entire Government, including all civil servants. In contrast, the Cabinet Office travel budget covers just the Premier, her Chief of Staff and the majority of Ministers (Tourism and possibly other Ministries have separate travel budgets).

If you wish to compare the budgeted/actual travel numbers for the whole of Government, these are available to the public and the Gazette in the published Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.The revised estimate for 1998/99 Government travel (the last fiscal year of the UBP Government) is $2.44 million. This was actually lower than the actual expenditure from the previous 1997/98 fiscal year of $2.5 million. In contrast, the budgeted expenditure for travel in Mr. Cox's first budget (1999/00) is $2.77 million. Based on the information provided so far about Ministerial travel from the Cabinet Office and the number of overseas promotions being put on by the new Tourism Minister, it is likely that this budgeted amount will be exceeded, and the Minister of Finance will have to come back to the House for a supplementary request to cover the excess spending.

The broader question of the growth in total Government travel in recent years is valid; it should be studied in more detail across all departments and is a topic that could usefully be examined by the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee.

The second point I would like to make is that the recent widespread issuance of credit cards to both Ministers and civil servants and the changes in per diem travel allowances clearly indicate a departure from the travel policies of the UBP Government. The use of credit cards was very much in an introductory, or pilot,phase under the UBP Government. The only Minister to have a Government credit card was the Premier and her credit card was not issued until May 1998. A very limited number of Ministers were issued telephone 'calling cards' for Government use while they were travelling, but they did not have general purpose credit cards. The number of senior civil servants issued with credit cards was approximately half a dozen during this introductory phase. As a consequence, the former Cabinet had not established a broad policy on Government credit card usage. When the UBP recently learned that now all Ministers and a significant number of civil servants hold Government credit cards, Opposition Leader Gordon asked, in Parliamentary Questions, the PLP Government to explain their new policies on credit card usage and per diem travel. The answer she received was unsatisfactory, as it simply indicated that; Government's policy regarding credit cards is consistent with the practice, which was in place under the former Government.

The PLP Government promised that they would operate in the sunshine of public scrutiny.One of the roles of the Opposition, as watchdogs for the public's money, is to ensure that this scrutiny takes place.

E. GRANT GIBBONS Shadow Finance Minister Is the Minister available? November 14, 1999 Dear Sir, For twelve months I have been trying to get an appoinment to talk with Dr.

Ewart Brown, the Transport Minister.

He and the Ministry asked for community feedback on traffic issues -- I am trying to give him feedback on traffic issues -- road chaos I call it in general.

Dr. Brown has more intelligence than would be apparent if he only backs the initiatives as reported by your paper of: First, wearing seat belts, secondly, putting on bumpers on cars that are too long; thirdly, creating a crash laboratory at a cost of $400,000 per year.

The road chaos is caused by perhaps 5% of our population driving totally out of control. For obscure and obvious reasons the UBP did not deal with the problem -- it is, however, now historical and Dr. Brown's responsibility to deal with the problem. And by the way Mr. Eugene Cox's responsibility to fund more police and Ms Paula Cox's responsibility to stop procrastinating (because of the political/racial sensitivity) as did the UBP for years.

But, I am also on a selfish personal mission. Under the law I need ministerial permission to bring into Bermuda a second hand motorcycles or car for that matter. I do not however need permission to bring in a second hand truck or auxiliary cycle. I wrote a letter to the Gazette asking if Dr. Brown or anyone could explain the rationale of these different vehicles needing permission -- I am still waiting.

I have bought a number of second hand motorcycles, most of which were at one time available in Bermuda -- for instances James, France Bassets, Sean, Norman, Excelsior etc. etc. -- makes your older readers would remember. All of them are low performance backer that will not do half the speed of the modern Japanese imports. If I wish to put these bikes in my living room that arguement should be between me and my wife. I am not asking to be allowed to put them on the road -- not that they would hurt anyone.

Dr. Brown has an office number listed in the telephone book and an emergency pager. Is he not an elected representative of the community? I wish to make representations to him. If it weren't for the gerrymandering boundary in Warwick -- done by the UBP -- I would be in his district -- Warwick west.

Cynically, I question in general, the number of hours these Ministers put in -- with Government cars. They debate issues in the House of Assembly which is too often trading insults and posturing. On Friday afternoon there were not even close to half the members in the House -- the debate is a waste of their breath and our time, if we were to listen, because the issue has been pre-decided in caucus.

But I stray from my mission. Dr. Brown -- you have seen fit to change other laws already -- who do these second hand laws serve? They, in fact, maintain a polite hold on motor vehicles -- a hold that was until recently firmly in the UBPs camp if you think about the ownership of HW&P and Bermuda Motors.

Dr. Brown, my home telephone number is 236-202 please call me.

SANDERS FRITH BROWN Just blowing off steam November 19, 1999 Dear Sir, I refer to your story, "Tourism's Webbe: Germans stopped me because I'm black'' (November 18, 1999).

I feel really sorry for Mr. Webbe, if I consider his accusing against the Frankfurt airport immigration and the airline Lufthansa as true.

In fact this may have happened in Germany in the year 1999 and he's concerned about this incident, which is understood. But the conclusion to "Mein Kampf'', the "Aryan race'' and the overall statement "other Bermudians have similar experience'' shows only, that he is just blowing out the steam. Did he consider complaining to the Frankfurt airport immigration about the "armed dwarf''who treated him as stated or to Lufthansa about their flight team on this day in this particular flight, which made him feel so bad as "The only non white in the plane'', did he? Or would he rather shoot against all the approximately 80 million Germans at once and giving advice to the rest of Bermuda or at least to "Those of the darker blue hue''? Next time you're travelling to or through Germany, Mr.

Webbe, if you do, you maybe just as sure that carrying the proper documents with you as a "Non drug smuggler profile'' will be not enough to convince a good organized immigration. You could even contact one of the millions of Non white and Non Aryansbut Afro Americans, Africans, Asians, living in Germany as residents, students or just on vacation, well protected by a mostly good working government, at least in this matter. If you really think about it, you'll come down that just one incident has happened to you, if it did. And please continue travelling "Properly attired''.

MARIO FRITZSCHE Somerset Getting the wrong advice November 15, 1999 Dear Sir, Is it just me, or am I stating the blindingly obvious when I pose the following question: Why is Bermuda taking advice from the leader of a nation whose economy is down the toilet? Who are killing each other at record rates, and whose social infrastructure is so crippled that they are not even able to bury their dead? Surely Jamaica's Prime Minister should concentrate on getting his own terrible problems in order before he comes over here to offer us his advice...surely our elected leaders can think of inviting somebody more worthy.

YARDIE BEST Southampton Voice your concerns 25 November 1999 Dear Sir On Wednesday, 10 November, 1999, a Letter to the Editor dated 31 October, 1999, signed by Yvette VA Swan of Warwick was published, entitled Left High and Dry.

Mrs Swan said she understood that there was a plan to cut back ferry service on the Paget/Warwick run, which she felt would adversely affect service to residents of the area.

It is true that the Ministry of Transport and the Department of Marine and Ports Services have been concerned for some time over the substantial drop in the number of passengers carried, particularly since the close of the Palm Reef and Belmont Hotels. A study of passenger levels has been conducted over the past six months, and is now complete.

However, Mrs Swan and other concerned members of the community should know that before any changes in the schedule are made, the Minister of Transport, Dr the Hon Ewart F Brown, JP, MP, intends to convene a public meeting in the area in order to hear any concerns and opinions the users of the service may have. Advertisements giving the date and place of the meeting will be published in your newspaper very soon.

The Minister welcomes input from the travelling public, and will make no changes until he has heard from those in the community who ride the ferries.

RONALD D ROSS Director of Marine and Ports Services