Dear Sir, It was my lot to become a patient at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital after fracturing my ankle in a fall.

The treatment I received from the moment the ambulance picked me up was superb. As soon as I arrived a doctor was by my side administering a pain killer. Thank you Dr. Richards. Constant care and attendance by the nurses in Emergency was very comforting. I also want to express special thanks to Dr.

Froncioni, who was on call that evening and was there as I was rolled into emergency.

After surgery I was admitted to Gosling Ward. My care during the five days there was exemplary. All my needs were catered to with a smile. I almost regretted leaving.

ANN INGHAM Smith's Parish Held hostage by airlines December 6, 1999 Dear Sir, Anyone who had attempted to fly out of Bermuda during the early part of last month would surely take issue with Dr. David Dodwell's comments (Friday's Royal Gazette ) that USAirways was withdrawing its LaGuardia-Bermuda service in retaliation to a Department of Tourism initiative that would greatly benefit Bermuda (fly-stay-cruise programme). One could barely get a seat in or out of Bermuda for several weeks and if they could, were subjected to ridiculously exorbitant prices.

For years the Bermuda public has been fed the UBP/airline propaganda that these airlines are doing Bermuda a favour by flying here and could easily fly elsewhere instead. However, anyone with any business acumen will agree that the goal of a business is to generate a profit and that the airlines that serve Bermuda are surely doing that. I travel rather frequently and have yet to see a plane flying empty out of or into the island. Even if the USAirways' LaGuardia flight is only flying at 60% capacity, with the prices charged, the airline is still certainly making money.

I know that our job is not to alienate our airline partners, but at the same time we must stop pretending that they are doing us a favour out of the "goodness of their hearts'' by flying here. Bermuda has to be one of the most profitable routes (per passenger mile) and we cannot be continually held hostage by their threats and demands that other initiatives to boost tourism be abandoned. If the major airlines are "that'' interested in boosting passenger levels, how about lowering fares? FREQUENT TRAVELLER Devonshire Think again, Minister December 6, 1999 Dear Sir, I was horrified to read the headlines in today's Royal Gazette that the Minister confirms we have lost the USAirways NYC flight. Mr. Allen defended this by stating that they now have TWA coming from St. Louis and an extra flight from Atlanta. However, I do not think either of these "extra'' flights are definite. Furthermore, we need another airline out of the New York area.

Mr. Allen should have stopped to think when USAir threatened to pull out if the Bermuda Government went ahead with plans to sign up for the Crown Dynasty to sail out of Philadelphia. Does he realise that the cruise ships are one of the factors hurting the Hotel industry in Bermuda? Does he realise that the cruise ships do not employ Bermudians? Why did he not consult his compatriot, Mr. Burgess, head of the BIU, as I am sure the latter could have explained about all of the Bermudian Marriott employees presently out of work? Did he consult his fellow PLP MPs who are in the Hotel industry and see what they think about yet another cruise ship and the subsequent loss of a USAirways flight from the East Coast of the USA? One wonders, does he understand the Hotel industry at all? As the Minister obviously has no interest in Keeping Bermuda hotels open, perhaps he should make some approach to the cruise ships, with the request that they employ a percentage of Bermudians on their Bermuda run. What about it Mr. Allen? In any other country, he would have to resign at the loss of this major airline to Bermuda. If everything is not finalised with the Crown Dynasty I appeal to him to please reconsider so that Bermuda does not lose the USAirways flight from the East Coast.

A CONCERNED HOTELIER Pembroke Embracing technology 1 December 1999 Dear Sir, I must take issue with the letter you published on 23 November, signed James A Pearman, and the article based on that letter published the following day.

Both mistakenly suggested that the Fastgate System at the Airport had been out of order more or less ever since it was set up in 1996.

Fastgate is still a test system. As such, it is not as stable as a fully functional system would be, and it does malfunction occasionally. On the other hand, all 1900 users of the system are volunteers who have been issued Fastgate cards free of charge, and who agreed to test the viability of the system. Cardholders have passed through Fastgate 4,400 times so far this year and 200 new frequent flyers have been signed up for the programme. That seems to suggest that not all who use Fastgate share Mr Pearman's opinion.

Fastgate is an example of a very new type of technology. Bermuda was one of a handful of countries in the world that were first to experiment with it. The promise of such a system for the future, of course, is that one system will become the standard, and will be used in every port in the world, making travel much more convenient than it is now.

Fastgate is the brainchild of IBM, which asked Bermuda to become involved as a proving ground to test the concept and build the system so that other governments could be persuaded to follow suit. Bermuda was receptive, because at the time we were looking for a similar system to speed up passenger processing time at the airport.

However, IBM chose to halt development of the system about a year ago, for their own business reasons, although they continue to maintain it. The design team was split up, unfortunately, which has meant that solving problems has recently been slower than it might be. Rather than withdraw the Fastgate test system from service, the Department of Immigration elected to keep it running for the convenience of the volunteers who use it about 400 times a month. If Fastgate cardholders are dissatisfied with it, they can choose not to use it.

The fate of Fastgate is uncertain, but use of the technology is not. Either Fastgate will be further developed or a replacement will be found. The department is satisfied that the concept is viable and would like to see it improved and expanded when the technology becomes available. The department was hoping that recent overseas developments in this field would identify the leading provider of this technology. That did not happen, but the Department of Immigration is continuing to monitor overseas activity in this area.

IBM has agreed that we should take ownership of the machines, and we are close to finalising a maintenance agreement with the local company that represents IBM. We hope that this will result in fewer occasions when the machines do not work, but the travelling public should be aware that for reasons beyond the Bermuda Government's control, Fastgate may occasionally malfunction. That will be the case until we find a viable replacement for it. As an aside, your readers may be interested to know that the immigration officers at the Airport all support the concept of an automated passenger clearance system. There is no fear of officers being replaced by machines. Like Mr Pearman, the officers wish that Fastgate had been developed beyond its test phase and was more reliable. To end on a happier note, IBM did make the system Y2K compliant before they abandoned the project, so Mr Pearman needn't fear being refused entry into Bermuda in the New Year for that reason.

Martin S Brewer Chief Immigration Officer Ask US for clean-up `aid' December 5, 1999 Dear Sir, I see by The New York Times of today's date that the US Government is not only going to stop using the island of Vieques for practice bombing but are also going to give Puerto Rico $40 million "in aid'' to help them clean up the place.

It struck me that if the US is unwilling to pay for the clean-up of their former bases because it might set a precedent and the US Government would be faced with enormous legal bills from all over, then perhaps we should try a different tack and ask for "aid''. Perhaps our negotiators have tried -- but if not this approach might be worth considering. We Bermudians need to be pragmatic in our approach, and if one method doesn't work should try another.

No reason why we should not have "aid'' to help in cleaning up oil damage and asbestos problem, in view of the special circumstances of the gift of the local bases in World War II.

W.S. ZUILL Smith's Parish