permits continues in public meetings. We question the value of these meetings to Government which already knows what it should do. Except for the fact that it is healthy to allow people to have their say, we cannot see that Government or the Ministry of Home affairs will learn anything new from these meetings or hear anything very significant.

It is clear that this is an issue which should have been settled years ago so that the rules were clear, everyone knew where they stood and the suggestion that people might, just might, achieve Bermuda Status was not held out as a lure to keep them in Bermuda. Instead we have taken tiny nibbles at the problem and changed the law until it is now a confusing and unfair mess.

Government seems to view the plight of non-Bermudians as a complex political issue. We see it as a rather simple moral one. It is without conscience to use the best years of people's lives to Bermuda's advantage and then deprive them of participating fully in the affairs of the Country they have served. It is nothing short of crazy that children born here to non-Bermudians can look forward to being Bermudian but their parents, who have served Bermuda, cannot.

The talk seems to be about giving Status or a "Green Card'' to those who have been here more than 20 years. What about those who have been here 15 or 18 years and may well have contributed a great deal more to Bermuda than those who have been here much longer? We do not see the green card concept as a solution because it will amount to second class status. The Green Card as used in the United States almost inevitably leads to US citizenship. That is not the idea in Bermuda where it will simply provide the right to seek other employment and change jobs and, perhaps, home ownership. The Bermuda Green Card is being touted as similar to the US system but that is not true and non-Bermudians should not be misled.

Spouses of Bermudians can already work without a permit. Yet employers often find themselves criticised for hiring a non-Bermudian. The same would probably be true when hiring green card holders.

There are all kinds of other misconceptions. It is sometimes claimed that the children of non-Bermudians will clutter up the school system. The children of these people are either in school anyway or long finished school. In any case, those born here will get Status now. Then there is the argument that if long-term residents get Status it will impact on housing. Do we think they live in the bushes? Non-Bermudian residents are housed now although they generally rent as good tenants for Bermudian landlords and the only change might be that they will be able to buy a house at the Bermudian ARV level.

That will not increase the demand for housing and it might improve the real estate market.

There is an argument that non-Bermudians have other countries to which they can return or where they are welcome. That is often true but there are large numbers of Bermudians living and working in other countries and we should be careful that some activist politician overseas does not learn how we treat non-Bermudians and propose laws to treat Bermudians in that country the same shameful way.

What about Britain? Bermudians complain about the way we are received by Immigration in the United Kingdom. We are now asking for a right of abode in Britain which would allow Bermudians to work freely and which would include access to the European Community. Yet we are talking about giving longstanding British residents in Bermuda a second class green card.