fall.

And a United Bermuda Party caucus committee will deal with much more than discipline in examining the party's "impasse'' on Independence.

The committee, consisting of Deputy Premier the Hon. Irving Pearman and Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira under the chairmanship of Government Whip Mr. John Barritt, was appointed this week by a Government worried that it was tearing itself apart, sources said.

Positions had hardened with "bitterness on both sides'' of the referendum question. The prospect had been raised of MPs bolting the party to sit as Independents or join the Opposition, and there were worries about the UBP splitting along roughly racial lines, sources said.

"There is no denying we are in a crisis,'' a Cabinet Minister said.

"Launching the initiative was badly managed and badly timed,'' and there were Government MPs determined to wreck it.

"We have to take steps back and find a way of getting on with other things,'' the Minister said. "But I think the germ has been properly planted in the Premier's mind that to go any further would invite disaster.

"The good news is that we've formed this committee to look at this thing dispassionately and find common ground.'' Mr. Pearman is a strong supporter of the Premier while Dr. Terceira opposes the Independence referendum initiative. As Whip and caucus chairman, Mr.

Barritt is seen as a neutral party interested in finding a consensus.

Mr. Barritt would only say that the proposed Senate amendment to the Independence Referendum Act 1994 would not be dealt with today. But aside from problems that Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan faces in his own caucus, there are enough procedural obstacles to pushing a referendum plan through in the current session that he is not expected to move on it before fall.

Despite that, the Premier issued a statement yesterday defending the course Government had chosen. He rejected a charge from Opposition Leader Mr.

Frederick Wade that the UBP preferred an Independence referendum to an election because it was afraid it would lose an election.

In an election, both parties would run on pro-Independence platforms and the public would have no choice, Sir John said. "Our object in this exercise has been to create a situation in which a well-informed public expresses its opinion about a clear question,'' he said.

"The only way that can be accomplished is by way of a referendum.'' Government's attempt to push through a new Independence referendum bill was stymied last Friday when MPs the Hon. John Stubbs and Dr. David Dyer missed the House vote while the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto and Mr. Trevor Moniz abstained.

The same four MPs were later named as organisers of an aborted plot to topple Sir John and replace him with Dr. Stubbs as interim leader.

The Premier opposes the Senate amendment to his referendum plan, which is supported by the Progressive Labour Party and a handful of UBP backbenchers.

The amendment would require that a majority of eligible voters decide the Independence referendum, rather than a majority of votes cast.