M. Gorham and a committee which includes a PLP MP, a PLP candidate and a UBP primary candidate are raising funds to ensure the future of the Smith quintuplets. We believe, as Mr. Gorham has stated, that the five babies are treasures for Bermuda and that the Smith quins are a tremendous event for Bermuda.

Some people have expressed concerns and even resentment that Government and various groups and members of the public have been contributing to the welfare of these children of Mr. and Mrs. Troy W. Smith who are now almost six months old having been born last October 27 at Howard University Hospital in Washington DC.

We think that the family needs some privacy so that it can cope with five infants all at once and that unfavourable public comment on what is done for the Smiths really becomes an act of cruelty. It seems to us that the people, and there are more than just a few, who are criticising help for the Smiths fail to think about just what a strain five infants at once can be. This is not a rich or even a well placed family which might reasonably be expected to cope on its own, and it would be without conscience for Bermuda to allow the babies to go without support. Family and friends of the Smiths have been very supportive but that does not reduce the fact that five infants at once are an enormous undertaking.

There are examples overseas of miracle children being covered in luxury but we see no sign of that here. What we see is some basic help in terms of adequate care and housing from Government and some public contributions which recognise that five babies at once is a miracle.

It does not really matter how the quins were conceived, they are still a personal and a medical miracle. Even in a world of fertility pills, quins are a great rarity. True, they are not as rare or as extraordinary as they once were by natural conception, but they are still a great rarity and a great personal achievement for Mrs. Smith. It is still a miracle that any woman can carry five babies to birth. Mrs. Smith took fertility pills because she wanted another child. It is not fair to blame her because she then had five babies because we doubt if she planned to go that far! We think that we detect some jealousy in people who complain about the help for the Smiths but help in coping with five babies at once is hardly to be envied. These are hard times for some families, especially sigle parent families, but there is no cause to take stress out on the Smiths. We think we may detect some prejudice, perhaps brought about by Mr. Smith's dreadlocks.

Maybe some people are just jealous that the Smiths have five babies and they do not.

However, criticism is being offset by the committee working to assist the Smiths and by the reality of a charitable trust. The trust is not only designed for the present but to look after the financial and educational interests of the quins in the future.