In The Royal Gazette dated May 11, 1968, the platform of the United Bermuda Party stated that the UBP believed all Bermudians should receive an education designed to help qualify them for what ever career they choose.

The UBP stated they intended to build on our present good system so that no Bermuda boy or girl will ever be deprived of proper schooling through lack of money yet after 30 years in power they left our education in our public schools in a state of confusion.

In the opposition UBP's Reply to the PLP throne speech, the Hon Pamela Gordon talked about basic rights which the UBP failed to achieve in 30 years. In my life time I have seen our education system destroyed under the United Bermuda Party. Having carried out the wishes of our colonial masters who had determined many years ago that only ten percent of black Bermudians would obtain a good education these black Bermudians would attend the Berkeley institute with the intention of creating an elite society. Opposition Leader the Hon Pamela Gordon is again making a promise that the United Bermuda Party made in 1968 but failed to deliver in 30 years.

RAYMOND RUSSELL Pembroke The three Ds November 30, 2000 Dear Sir, The Premier said in the meeting last night that a Boundaries Commission will decide on the number of seats in the House of Parliament. She then conceded that she could make changes but that any changes would then be debated publicly in the House of Parliament.

With the PLP holding 26 seats, the outcome of this "debate'' is predetermined unless the Premier will remove the whip and let there be a vote of conscience.

Herein lies the problem -- the "debate'' on a party political line is only posturing -- the decision was made in Cabinet (who outnumber caucus) and the Premier holds sway in Cabinet. If she doesn't like the performance of a Cabinet Minister, she can send him to the backbenchers.

My comment about The Premier, does not mean Jennifer Smith -- it means any Premier. I was opposed to the power held by Sir John Swan, David Saul and Pamela Gordon in the past decade. It is not that I don't trust Jennifer Smith -- I don't trust anyone to make these substantial decisions on the people of Bermuda's behalf.

So although the debate proposed in public, the outcome is predetermined. There is a simple solution. The Boundaries Commission can decide; the House can debate and then with a referendum we will determine -- call it the three `Ds'.

SANDERS FRITH-BROWN Airline service below par December 3, 2000 Dear Sir, I would like to tell you about my previous experience while traveling on US Airways. I was scheduled to travel on US Airways from Bermuda to Toronto via Philadelphia. But on my day of departure I was informed that US Airways flight No.2 had been delayed from Bermuda due to a mechanical problem. This meant that I would miss my connecting US Airways flight 1633 from Philadelphia to Toronto which was on-time and scheduled to depart Philadelphia at 3.35 p.m.

The customer service agent who was very pleasant and tried to assist me as much as they could and place themselves in my shoes. While the agent was trying to accommodate me, the station manager came to assist at check-in. So the agent informed the station manager of the problem to see what he could do to accommodate us. The agent spoke with him and he looked into the system but he stated that "US Airways can accommodate us to Toronto tonight on a later fight.'' We asked him if he can put us on the direct Air Canada flight as it had seats available, but he said "this is not possible because US Airways can accommodate us tonight.'' We were told that the next US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Toronto would not be until late that night. This meant that we had a five hour lay over in Philadelphia. We arrived in Philadelphia at 4.21 p.m. from Bermuda and departed Philadelphia at 9.35 p.m. on US Airways flight 2294 and arrived in Toronto at 11.13 p.m. that evening. This was a long day for us and a day we would not forget.

I travel on US Airways a lot and I do understand that things do happen and problems do arise. The problem was not with the delay but the way it was handled by the manager. I do believe that as this was not our fault as he could have accommodated us on another carrier from Bermuda or Philadelphia to get us to Toronto earlier. I know he would have not been quite happy if he was in our shoes. During the summer I received wonderful service from all the customer service agents and former station manager especially Tracy and Leslie. Even though they had four flights a day their service was still excellent. If the new station manager does not know how to provide quality service, how is the US Airways' Bermuda station supposed to give quality service and how are the agents supposed to follow his role as he is the station manager? In every other US Airways station they have been great in many ways. I have hope that this airline will succeed but I do want the station manager to take a moment and look into their cancellation and delayed procedures. The Customer Commitment book (if I am correct) was implemented in December 1999 for all major airlines which shows what the airlines can and can't do. I believe that all airlines should take a look at this book because there are a lot of things they should be doing during delays and cancellations and they are getting away with it because travellers don't know. We the customers are an airline's greatest asset.

FREQUENT TRAVELER Sandys Parish Let's change the system November 30, 2000 Dear Sir, In my opinion, the establishment of a Constitutional Conference in 1979 merely enabled the government of Great Britain to transfer a variant of its own governmental system to Bermuda. Why has not one of our governments, the UBP in the past and the PLP in the present, not considered a form of government better suited to an Island of about 20 square miles in area and populated by about 60,000 persons, instead of seeking to be a replica of a form of government designed for a country whose area and population is more than one thousand times as large. I would like to see the present form of legislature preserved for historical reasons, but only for one specific purpose (for example - the budget debate). For everything else let us find a better, more efficient, more responsive system.

The coming of political parties, and the introduction of organised adversarial debate, has reduced the efficiency of the present system to an unacceptable minimum. It is time for a change. We need a practical governmental system which will enable the government of the day to spend most of its energies in governing, rather than in a perpetual defence of its policies and actions. We are for the most part a suburban community. Some cities very much larger in area and in population than ourselves do very well with a simple City Manager.

We are hamstrung by procedures and precedents which were formed in past times.

We do not need to throw them all out. But we do need to have a government which is more flexible than the present format allows. We need a government which can respond quickly to the changing conditions in the world and in Bermuda. We need a managerial system with a defined chain of command, where decisions are made and honest mistakes are forgiven. We do not need a party system enshrined in a new constitution.

The obvious preliminary to all of this would be a simple agreement by the political parties to make the existing electoral districts single seat constituencies at the next election. Both parties should agree to this because it preserves the status quo. Nothing changes but the number of sitting MP's.

The Boundaries Commission could then be given the job of devising a formula to equalize the power of a vote in all constituencies. This gives an immediate starting point of twenty rather than forty seats, and should encourage the establishment of a Parliament numbering about 25 persons or less.

BERTRAM GUISHARD Music to our ears November 27, 2000 Dear Sir, Please allow me the opportunity in your column to offer sincere thanks and appreciation to all those sponsors and guests who attended the recent Mayor's reception at City Hall. This reception was a fundraiser for the Cathedral Boys Choir. The boys performed during the reception and enjoyed the experience as much as the audience enjoyed them.

We would particularly like to thank the Bermuda Foundation for the Arts for their generous Grant and our corporate sponsors, Burrows Lightbourne, Little Venice Group and John Barritt & Sons Ltd. who provided the refreshments for the reception.

In our continuing effort to develop our young men through music, the Cathedral Boys Choir has embarked upon our third year with an exciting program, which we hope will challenge the boys and entertain the public.

We are very proud of the boys and were particularly pleased that most of them returned after the summer break. The boys come from all walks of life and from schools across the Island. We would however like to recruit at least another ten boys to allow for those occasions when some may be away on family holidays.

The boys are paid a small stipend for each rehearsal and performance attended.

This serves as an incentive for the boys to maintain regular attendance and as a result develop their skills. The support of family and friends is therefore vital to the future of the Choir and we are grateful to those who contributed to this latest event.

A very special thanks to the Mayor of Hamilton, the Rt. Wor. Lawson E. Mapp, for allowing the use of the City Hall Foyer, and for being our guest of honour.

REGINALD A. RAWLINS Vice President /Chair Cathedral Boys Choir