The Corporation of Hamilton has increased their fees for goods passing through the Hamilton Docks by 9.9 percent.

Do we wonder why prices in Bermuda are increasing, as is noted in an article in The Royal Gazette of today.

Instead of charging an increase they should be decreasing their charges and issuing an apology for continuing to grant a monopoly arrangement to a stevedoring company which after all the years is still having a year 1900 problem.

Bermuda Aviation Services had a monopoly for 50 years with the same problem but now appear to have successfully resolved that. Maybe these two companies should compare notes...oops! I forgot. ..

LONG-SUFFERING IMPORTER Flatts Radio report denied June 18, 1999 Dear Sir, As the public is aware, there has been considerable controversy recently in the media regarding the position of vice president at Bermuda College. During the past few days, an anonymous flyer has been circulated at the College that infers by accusations that three members of senior administration are at the forefront to have Dr. Peters replaced as the vice president of the College.

This is totally without foundation and is slanderous in nature.

On Wednesday, VSB News ran a news item concerning this destructive flyer. Not only was the report irresponsible, it also publicly identified the undersigned who's integrity, professionalism and ethics were demeaned. None of the persons named below were contacted by the reporter and no attempt was made to present a balanced story.

We, the undersigned, abhor the circulation of these false allegations made in the offensive flyer and the conduct of the VSB newsroom.

BARBARA GREEN BARBARA M. O'SHAUGHNESSY WAYNE WILSON Bermuda College, Paget Praise for students June 15, 1999 Dear Sir, I would like to congratulate the students who have graduated from CedarBridge this year. They have probably had a roller-coaster ride to the finish line since they began secondary school in a general secondary school such as the former St. George's Secondary, Warwick Secondary, or Prospect Secondary Schools, and then without further academic preparation were cast into CedarBridge which was being touted as our new senior school.

These General Secondary students were suddenly faced with teachers expecting academic senior school performance and who now realised that their new students had not had an academic preparation. Teachers and students have responded better than anyone could have expected. It is a pity that our educational plan did not see fit to provide an enhanced education for the seven graduating class year who were left in the old eleven year BSSC system.

The new twelve year system whose first graduates will come out of CedarBridge in 2003, (I believe), will have had a good preparation for CedarBridge and a much smoother ride to the finish line.

Bermuda owes a great debt to Mr. Ernest Payette, outgoing headmaster of CedarBridge who probably has seen in his school very few, if any, students previously prepared for a academic education. Maybe he should have been brought to Bermuda in the year 2003 when CedarBridge, the new Senior Secondary School, will be fully operational and not in a transitional stage. But he and his teachers have put their shoulders to the wheel and have helped these students toward their career goals. What a fine bunch of teachers they are! They organised volunteers to help. They tried to light candles instead of cursing the system's darkness. These teachers should all get meritorious service medals because they tried to fill a gap left by the educational system. They did what needed to be done. They had double duty the first year because all of the former general secondary school students transferred to CedarBridge and none to the Berkeley Institute. The Berkeley Institute received its share of non-academically prepared students this year (1998-1999). Berkeley Institute teachers will be earning their medals too! This is their year to be in shock.

Congratulations, graduating students. Three cheers for the great teachers of CedarBridge and at Berkeley! BERTRAM GUISHARD City of Hamilton Ferries are no solution June 16, 1999 Dear Sir, I have a solution for Bermuda's traffic problems! Pass a law to allow only those cars which are fully paid for to use the roads.

Speaking of traffic problems, Dr. Ewart Brown says the new ferry boats on order will help solve the traffic problem because a lot of people will be taking the ferry to work and leave their cars home. Keep on dreaming, Dr.

Brown.

Let's face facts. The majority of women who work have children who have to be taken to day care and/or regular school, and later picked up by MOM, so it's safe to assume mothers don't want to give up their cars. Try to picture a mother of two or three children trying to get her brood ready to catch the ferry. When they get to Hamilton, mother would have to walk quite a distance to take her youngsters to school, especially when one is a toddler and has to be dropped off at day care, and one other child goes to school A, and another goes to school B, and are too young to go on their own. Then mother has to rush to work, and do the whole thing again after work, in reverse. She would have to start getting ready at 4 a.m. to accomplish this. This is bad enough if the weather is fine, but what about in winter when it's raining? Assume that some people would like to take the ferry, but live a mile or more away from the nearest stop. they would not be able to drive to the ferry stop, because there is no parking near any of the ferry stops in Paget or Warwick, except on private property. I cannot speak for Somerset, because I don't know what parking facilities are available there. Also, working women like to stop at grocery stores on the way home from work, and they cannot do this by ferry.

Taking the ferry to work is fine for people without children who live no more than five minutes walking distance away, so I honestly don't think the costly new ferries will alleviate the traffic problem.

GRANNIE Warwick Love 'em and leave them June 14, 1999 Dear Sir, "Live among them, learn from them, love them, and when you leave, make them feel they have done it themselves.'' In response to Dr. Donald Peters' comments about silencing his critics and the high grade point average attained by the graduating students from the Bermuda College, please let me state that grade point average does not necessarily indicate the level of mastery of the content of the subject matter learned by students.

What was the attrition rate? It would be interesting to find out.

In times past, our sterling Bermudian and West Indian teachers always challenged us to aspire to the highest heights. Under no circumstances did they ever lower the standard. They always made us come up to the standard.

Dr. Peters also stated that his record speaks for itself. The record of the previous government and the previous Board of Governors of the Bermuda College speaks for itself too. The record clearly shows that there was no serious commitment to Bermudianisation at the Bermuda College. Why would Dr. Eva Hodgson, Dr. Larita Alford and myself, all born and bred Bermudians, have to make nine unsuccessful attempts to be employed at the Country's only place of higher learning? On another note, Dr. Peters is a guest in our country. Fellow Bermudians, many of you have worked and lived in foreign countries. Surely, you were grateful for the opportunity afforded you to make a contribution in another man's country. Surely, you were very careful to be gracious to your hosts and hostesses and treated them with the utmost dignity and respect.

DR. MURIEL M. WADE-SMITH Smith's Parish Shape up, Civil Service June 22, 1999 Dear Sir, The civil servants in Bermuda, like others worldwide, ware hired to efficiently manage the resources of the Country and to ensure that both government and the people are served efficiently and promptly during the course of day-to-day operations. They also are responsible for implementing long-term goals and policies for the benefit of the Country and the Government.

Apart from being quite obviously top heavy in many areas, the Bermuda Civil Service does a pretty good job. The one problem that I do have with a number of the civil servants here is the fact that they have absolutely no consideration for time or money when it comes to the private sector. Clearly there is a responsibility for Government to legislate time frames in what should be acceptable time periods to consider details that are presented to civil servants. It is irresponsible to force an individual to wait for an answer for long time periods when livelihoods are at stake. There clearly is a predominance of "don't push me or I'll put your application at the bottom of the pile'' attitude within many sectors of the civil service. Meanwhile, in many cases the public is forced to lose money, opportunity and deadlines, which in turn can have negative consequences for the Country in general.

May I respectfully remind all civil servants that you are there to assist the Country and you have no authority to perform a function when you feel like doing it. You must respond to the Country in a prompt and timely manner and if you have a problem with that, then I suggest that you come into the private sector and look at yourself from the other side of the counter.

TIRED OF WAITING City of Hamilton We forgot our differences June 15, 1999 The following was sent to Ms Grace Rawlins, Director, Department of Community Affairs and copied to The Royal Gazette .

Dear Ms Rawlins.

There appear to be so many things which divide us these days in Bermuda that it is indeed refreshing to attend a function which stresses our unity as Bermudians.

Such a function was the Senior Citizens Awards celebration held recently at City Hall, Hamilton, which was hosted by your Department, and attended by the Premier and various public dignitaries, in order to present Certificates of Appreciation to 33 Senior Citizens, (including the undersigned).

I would like to express my appreciation to yourself, and your Department for the obvious dedication and hard work which went into organising this happy event. It is heartwarming to realise that this sort of function brings out the best in Bermudians, dividing us. It was like one big happy family honouring its senior members! For a brief hour all our ethnic and economic differences were forgotten.

I wish it could always be that way. In the words of our National Song -- "This is my own land, built in Faith and Unity.'' Let's live up to these words! Again, thank you for arranging such a wonderful experience.

IAN H. CLARKE Paget