debate on Friday on the Commission on Competitiveness Report. The debate is due to be continued on Wednesday.

Bermuda has to look at other industries to support itself, according to Opposition MP Mr. Ottiwell Simmons.

Mr. Simmons said cedar crafts were a possibility, and Bermuda needed to look to the ocean for income.

More Bermudian restaurants had to feature Bermudian cuisine, while nightspots should showcase Bermudian entertainers. That was why visitors came to Bermuda, Mr. Simmons said.

The report also did not consider the distribution of wealth in Bermuda, which was unfair.

Management and Technology Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons noted that the report was commissioned during the recession and was prompted by real concerns about the Island's competitiveness.

Losing the Bases was like losing a business, Dr. Gibbons said. They pumped about $49 million a year into the economy in 1992, employing 102 Bermudians directly and another 380 indirectly, while also affecting another 330 jobs.

The Bases also put $12 million a year into Government's Consolidated Fund, while helping with foreign currency earnings and the balance of payments.

"We have to find, if you like, an alternative business or businesses,'' Dr.

Gibbons said. However, "it shouldn't be too difficult to do''.

While occupying ten percent of the land mass, the Bases only employed 102 Bermudians. "We should be able to find other businesses that employ many more Bermudians''.

And the new businesses should diversify the economy, while contributing more than $12 million a year to Government coffers.

Some of the suggestions from the commission's future opportunities committee could go straight to the Base utilisation committee for consideration, Dr.

Gibbons said.

They included fish farming, hosting of international sporting tournaments, schools or universities, a conference centre, and a duty free zone, particularly for technology or intellectual property.

Dr. Gibbons said he agreed with the report's finding that "Bermuda must restructure to compete or else our standard of living will drop''.

Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Mr. Alex Scott said the report suggested that Bermudians practice protectionism. There were real estate restrictions and the 60/40 corporate ownership law, he noted.

But there was job protection for Bermudians only on paper, not in practice, Mr. Scott said. One third of the work force was non-Bermudian, and Bermudian workers had to be given the same protection that Bermudian companies received.

The report said that labour costs in Bermuda were prohibitive. But a close reading showed the authors were talking not about the Bermuda Industrial Union, but accountants, lawyers, and other high-priced help brought in from abroad, Mr. Scott said.

Many BIU members were unemployed, and many Bermudians were "on the dole.'' Dr. Gibbons had been given an important job, and "the hopes and aspirations of many unemployed Bermudians lie now with the prospects of what may happen on the Base'', Mr. Scott said.

But already, rumours circulating about the Base. There was talk that Bermudians who worked on the Base would be able to keep their jobs, but at reduced wages.

And "we hear that (the Minister) is already hiring his press agent from The Royal Gazette ,'' Mr. Scott said. He understood that News Editor Mr. Don Grearson was leaving the Gazette that day and starting work on Monday as "the p.r. mouthpiece for the Honourable Member from Paget East.'' See story below.

Mr. Scott said he hoped that was not true. He knew many people who could write better and knew more about Bermuda. "Nonsense,'' said Labour and Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman . "I know what people are unemployed, and they don't fall in that category.'' Mr. Scott said only about 12 percent of those involved in writing the Commission on Competitiveness report were black.

In the workplace, management needed to get Bermudians on their side. Then they would have loyal and effective workers. "They'll probably even shop here, because the better they get paid, they can afford the Trimingham's prices.'' While he applauded the Belmont Hotel for bringing Warwick Secondary students to the hotel for exposure to the industry, Mr. Scott felt interested Bermudians should have hotel jobs waiting for them when they left school.

More skilled Bermudians living abroad should be encouraged to come home, he said.

Noting Government had already implemented 12 of the recommendations, the Hon.

Harry Soares (UBP) said it was an insult to all the Bermudians who contributed for the PLP's Mr. Cox to say the report was "OK for its first draft''.

He scoffed at the PLP's bank monopoly claims pointing out there were not two but three different banks here.

Mr. Soares said he felt the most important aspect of the report was the point Bermuda could only survive if it gave world class standards -- not local standards.

And he said it was vital that Bermuda recognise it was in competition with the globe for tourism.

He said an English couple visiting this week told him sunny West Africa had been their number-one holiday choice -- Bermuda their second. "We must look outward. The world is our competition,'' he said.

The Rev. Trevor Woolridge (PLP) lambasted what he claimed was the UBP's lack of use of Bermudian workers.

He said rather than advertise and look within at Government Information Services, Government went "looking to The Royal Gazette '' for someone to advance the work of the US bases transition team.

"The job was not advertised at all -- it was never even made available to others,'' he said referring to news editor Mr. Don Grearson's acceptance of a public relations job with the team. He acknowledged Mr. Grearson was married to a Bermudian.

"The UBP Government teaches Bermudians they don't know anything,'' he said.

"They're always parading some expert from somewhere else.'' Rev. Woolridge said Government failed to realise Bermudians wanted to be used.

"The habitual behaviour of the UBP over the last 40 years has been always to bring someone else in,'' he said.

On the subject of tourism competitiveness, Mr. Woolridge said: "To this day there are hotel properties that do not have telephones in the rooms. That has to be of concern to the Minister of Tourism and Government.'' On the same subject, the part-time taxi driver said it was often the case that visitors arriving on late evening flights arrived at their guest properties -- mostly small ones but also some "that are not so small'' -- with no one to greet them.

"The taxi driver is often forced to go hunting for the owners,'' he said.

There was a fierce interjection from the Tourism Minister when Mr. Woolridge said the Island's repeat visitor factor had gone from 40 percent to 33 percent. Mr. (Jim) Woolridge shouted it gone up to 46 percent.

The jousting that broke out prompted a warning to Members from the Speaker of the House the Hon. Ernest DeCouto. "This is not a classroom,'' he said, putting them on notice that "I mean business''.

Continuing, the Rev. Trevor Woolridge said the trust factor was not present for Bermudians to be encouraged to shop here. Furthermore, those like himself, had to shop abroad because they could not find what they needed locally.'' "An individual my size -- 6'2'' and one or two pounds above 200 pounds -- has some difficulty purchasing clothes and shoes that fit!,'' he said.

Rev. Woolridge said the report's recommendations were too important to be shelved "and added to the other reports''.

Mr. Rick Spurling (UBP) said two issues in the report he felt were vital, were the need for value for money and productivity. Essential to those qualities was training, he said.

International business companies did do their part by sending Bermudians abroad and "99 percent'' would prefer to hire Bermudians. "They don't want the hassle or cost of applying to Immigration.'' However, basic English and math skills were necessary and it was up to the Island's education system to ensure all students graduated with the two subjects under their belts.

Mr. Spurling added economy-boosting ideas which he supported were holding international arbitrations here -- perhaps on the US base lands, making Bermuda a telecommunications hub and expanding the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

The debate, which adjourned at 8 p.m., continues on Wednesday.