brought on by the recession. That is a fact of life for most recession-hit governments and is nowhere more evident than in the United States. President Bill Clinton has told that sacred cow the United States military to slash budgets.

It is always difficult in a democratic society to take away from people something which they have and take for granted. We have already seen that in Bermuda where parents and teachers are objecting to teacher cuts.

We understand that savings have to come in Bermuda and think that some are long overdue. In the good years there was a natural tendency toward fat in Government and the recession may have done us the favour of forcing a hard look at Government spending. However, we are concerned about where cuts are made.

We think Government should not look at cuts in people's welfare and health, and certainly not at cuts in drug treatment and awareness, during a time of economic strain. We are concerned about cuts in the Police Force because we think one of the things which makes Bermuda an attractive visitor destination is safety. We do think, however, that there are jobs now done in the Police Force by trained policemen which could be done by less expensive clerical staff. We think cuts in teachers is too politically disruptive even though the Minister of Education the Hon. Gerald Simons did a magnificent job on television recently in defending those cuts. We think Education should take a hard look at the 74 people now employed at the Ministry before it looks at teachers.

Government should look first at office staff instead of at those who directly serve the public.

Basically we think there are too many ministries and that some amalgamation would save on support staff and on ministerial salaries. We see no real purpose to the Ministry of Community and Cultural Affairs and think that Bermuda's community and culture are already well served and well supported by some varied and excellent volunteer groups. We have some grave doubts which we have expressed before about the Ministry of Youth and Sport. Sports organisations are in turmoil and the Minister seems to do little for youth.

Those functions, we think, could be done by some of those people in the Ministry of Education.

Information Services is the most often suggested for cuts. From where we sit in the media we are very often tempted to agree, mostly because we see very little real result from Information Services. The overseas news function which was once done by the News Bureau for tourism is now done at considerable expense in New York. Local results are hampered because traditionally Bermuda's cabinet ministers have been unhappy with public relations.

Government also needs to set public examples. It could set no better lead than to agree in these tough times to a ten percent cut in Cabinet salaries. It could ask those Bermudians who serve so willingly on government boards to give up their token $25 per meeting since most of those who serve do not need the cash anyway. It could also slash those Government GP cars which are only used to get to work and place the users on a par with the public.

People are not going to be very happy if Government cuts services but does not cut itself. There is already considerable disquiet over cuts in the ferries.

These are examples. The public can think of many more and when it does so, it should tell its Members of Parliament now that the Legislature is back in session.