the UN Decolonisation Committee's regional seminar that began on Wednesday in Grenada.

Committee for the Independence of Bermuda head Mr. Walton Brown Jr. will present papers on two topics, while Shadow Health and Social Services Minister Mr. Nelson Bascome will attend.

Government has traditionally not attended Decolonisation Committee meetings, and Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan said yesterday that he did not believe it would be a responsible use of public funds to send somebody.

"It's not serving any useful purpose until the Bermuda people make up their minds on independence,'' he said.

The UN committee has in the past advocated independence for dependent territories, he added. "It's a Bermuda decision and not a decision for somebody else.'' Mr. Brown said he will be addressing two of the topics selected by the committee. One is "Human resources development and the consequences of emigration''.

"My concern is that, as part of the colonial legacy, we don't have enough confidence and faith in our own ability to do things -- our constant outward looking without looking to see what we have,'' he said.

"It's not about bashing foreigners. It's about the psychology of dependence, where we always look overseas first without first seeing what we have here.'' The second subject deals with higher education, research, development, and the possibilities of regional pooling arrangements for sharing skills and expertise. The idea, Mr. Brown said, is to get the region "to work collectively a lot more than it is doing now''.

"Right now there is a lot of fragmentation in the Caribbean region, a lot of people going off in separate ways. I think it's important for linkages, to develop stronger ties -- especially among non-self-governing territories.'' This year's Grenada conference is designed to deal primarily with economic and social concerns.