The Bermuda Independence Commission?s seventh public meeting was cut short last night by a blackout at the St. George?s Dinghy Club.

With no power to light the venue, the Commissioners attempted to meet outside with their audience, but the effort was cut short just after 8.30 p.m.

Before that, however, the meeting appeared to be running par for the course ? Commissioners fielded much the same questions, comments and concerns that they have for the past six meetings.

As in previous meetings, most of the audience members? questions went unanswered. Commissioners were able to offer different possible answers to many of the questions posed, but as they have previously noted the specific course that Bermuda may take down the road to sovereignty will have to be determined by the Government of the day.

?The best way for anyone to make a decision for or against Independence is to have the information in front of us,? one audience member noted. ?But there have been a lot more questions than there have been answers.?

Held at the St. George?s Dinghy Club, the meeting drew less than 40 people, a significant drop in attendance from previous meetings. Like previous public meetings the crowd appeared to be made up of very few young Bermudians.

As has been the pattern, race appeared to be the one major issue which incited passions. Concerns were voiced on the cost of Independence, and while Commissioners repeated that they cannot answer how much Independence would cost Bermuda, they did say that based on the experience of other countries the cost could run around $44 million annually.

They have previously stated at public meetings that cost would depend on many factors, such as the number of embassies set up around the world and what international organisations Bermuda would elect to join ? all factors which would have to be decided by the Government of the day.

The Commissioners did describe to the audience some of their meetings with schoolchildren on the issue of Independence. Bermuda?s schoolchildren, they said, appeared to be mostly concerned about the impact of Independence on social issues such as crime and drugs.

However several of the Commissioners, Mike Winfield in particular, have noted several times previously that concerns like crime and drugs are concerns that Bermuda is facing right now and must find a solution to with or without Independence. The fear that international businesses will flee the Island if Bermuda chooses to go Independent has been voiced several times. After the meeting Commissioner Bob Steinhoff told that for international business to remain in Bermuda, several factors would have to be in place: a democratic government with the appropriate checks and balances in place, consistency in the legal system, the retention of a respective Court of Appeal, and a satisfactory regulatory and tax system.

As for the question of a referendum or a General Election to decide the question of Independence, the BIC said it would be up to Government to decide the method ? however they did not specify whether they meant the British or the Bermudian Government.

Commissioner David Roundtree also confirmed last night that the BIC will be sending a representative to a session on the UN in June where debate will focus on the remaining 16 countries in the world who have not yet chosen the path of self-determination.