On Page 7 of The Royal Gazette of May 5, 2000, The Minister of Transport Dr.

Ewart Brown "warned Paget hoteliers against trying to pressurise Government into changing the ferry schedule''.

Also, in today's Royal Gazette (May 8), Dr. Brown is quoted as saying, in referring to large cars for Ministers: "It's a done deal. It's going to happen and people need to direct their attention to more serious matters.'' Mr. Editor, I have one question for Dr. Brown. Is Bermuda still a democracy, or have we quietly sneaked into a dictatorship? YVETTE V.A. SWAN Warwick Need not apply May 2, 2000 Dear Sir, Your readers may have noticed the announcement a few weeks ago regarding the establishment of a new captive management company owned by Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT). Subsequently, in the employment section various positions were advertised.

What your readers, and in particular those seeking employment, may not know is that they need not bother to apply for these positions.

It appears that the qualifications required for these positions are, coincidentally, almost identical to those currently held by certain individuals who are currently employed by another highly respected captive manager, a company which has operated in Bermuda for over 35 years. What a strange coincidence! The principals of this new JLT owned captive management company, who until recently were employed by the aforementioned veteran management company, have specifically targeted and are currently in the process of poaching several key employees.

It is a sad fact that few employees these days have any loyalty to an employer nor do they show any concern for the well-being of colleagues left behind after a mass defection. What happened to common decency, good faith and fair play? I hope that the Department of Immigration will closely scrutinise the applications for work permits submitted by the JLT-owned management company.

Should the Island open its door to companies who operate in such fashion? DISILLUSIONED Paget Goodbye to the `good life' May 6, 2000 Dear Sir, It's about time someone tells Bermudians what is in store for them.

The death knell of the `good life' has been sounded, but who will believe it? Nobody.

What they will want to believe is that it's only "over'' for the wealthy, and those at the top of best paid salaries -- and, of course, the expats.

Quite wrong! The wealthy people can go to live wherever they wish. Those with the best ability to handle top-notch jobs (including expats) will always have a future -- somewhere.

Now for the bad news! The hardest hit, the really unfortunate ones will be the larger mass of Bermudians who, for a long time, have somehow been able to manage well on the edge of the good life.

Right now, money circulation in Bermuda is what has brought about this good life in all departments. But once that stops, so will all the areas of the good life gradually disappear. It would be fortunate for all Bermudians if the specific PLP meddlers stayed out of high finance matters, which is definitely not their forte.

Bermuda was "sittin' pretty'' from the end of the Second World War, and tourism got better and better through the 50s, 60s and 70s, with jobs galore.

That is, until the Bermuda Industrial Union part of the Progressive Labour Party decided to strike for higher wages in 1981.

This made hotel accommodation so expensive that within a very few years, the gradual closing of hotels started, causing enormous losses to Bermudians' jobs.

Thank heavens Bermudians did not fall into another bottomless pit by taking over a hotel and running it themselves. Places like the Bahamas tried it, and we all know of their disastrous consequences.

Jamaica, too, has acquired a history of disasters since its independence from Britain. Previously, it was called the economic "gem of the Carribean''.

Now it has a national debt in the billions, making it necessary to borrow hundreds of millions annually just to cover the interest. This is the country so admired by our Premier Smith that Jamaica's Prime Minister was the PLP's specially invited guest speaker at their election anniversary banquet. (Don't be surprised at the next move).

Back to Bermuda. Knowing that our economy is on very dangerous ground, with tourism almost on its back, nobody but first-class idiots would then start whittling away at the second -- and only other -- `prop' in our fragile economy -- International Business.

The incredible shortsightedness of this lot is impossible to imagine, let alone put a name to. Extraordinary demands for ridiculous detail in Bermuda's International Business has resulted in unnecessary speculation and if there is, ultimately, severe damage to Bermuda's `other prop', it must be placed fairly and squarely at the feet of the PLP, who are definitely out of their depth at the international level.

Their letters, C-U-R-E, would be more realistic if known as: the Commission for Use of Radical Extinction.

VOTER Pembroke Faith and frustration The following Letter to the Editor was first published in 1995 and is reprinted at the author's request.

Dear Sir, Having read your recent editorials and most of the letters to the Editor, I would like to share a few thoughts with your readers.

We all have our frustrations -- little ones, big ones; frustrations we can readily laugh off and frustrations which tear the heart out of us. There are frustrations for which we ourselves are to blame, and frustrations which are utterly undeserved.

They come in all shapes and flavours. There is the simple frustration of not being able to find a convenient parking space. There is the shattering frustration of loving someone and not being loved back. There is the enervating frustration of not getting promotion or winning that election or being awarded that prize.

And there is that terrible, heart-eroding frustration which comes when we fear that life, in the final analysis, is meaningless.

Many of us, bemused by the general affluence of our society, think that more money would relieve us of our more painful frustration, and, undoubtedly, money can be of help. But, there is no convincing evidence that money itself provides an escape from the pains of frustrations -- and there is plenty of evidence that those who have money by the barrel do not find life to be more frustration-free than those who have little money. One of the marks of personal maturity is the capacity to cope with frustration.

To say the least, we in Bermuda are going through what may be called an economic and social convulsion. Our accomplishments, both material and cultural, are suddenly not living up to our expectations.

We are not the first people in history to have experienced frustrations, nor will we be the last. But, how we respond, and how our national psyche deals with the frustrations we now live under, will determine the future course of our history as much as any grandiose plans contrived by politicians and bureaucrats.

There is a germ of cynicism spreading the disease of despair throughout the land. It has taken hold largely through the default of the individual who, because of the speed of mass communications, has come to look on institutions as amorphous masses, being prone to the strengths, the weaknesses of the human spirit.

Without mutual faith and respect, this society many indeed fracture and break up into a kind of meanness. Reconciliation is preferable to confrontation; patience and understanding are preferable to passion and conflict. The test of maturity is the ability to live with uncertainty and reckon with risk.

If we pass this test, it is because of an evolving faith which each will formulate in his/her own way.

Without faith and respect there can be no understanding and no forgiveness.

Without understanding and forgiveness there can be no love. Without love, there is no tomorrow.

P. DE LA CHEVOTIERE, MD City of Hamilton No room at the inn May 9, 2000 Dear Sir, I have one question for Mr. (David) Allen -- if you are aiming to increase the number of visitors by 80,000 over the next four years, where are all these people supposed to stay? The lack of hotels on this Island is getting frightful, and finding accommodation for business visitors is a tough task.

WONDERING Smith's Parish