Whether the Independence referendum would go ahead the next day was discussed at a Cabinet meeting that stretched into the early evening of August 15, a former Cabinet Minister revealed yesterday.

Dr. Clarence Terceira, who was Education Minister at the time of the referendum, was testifying at the final day of a Commission of Inquiry probing events surrounding the one-day postponement in the vote.

After five days of testimony, Government backbencher Mr. Trevor Moniz conceded to the commission that no "smoking gun'' had been uncovered which clearly pointed to wrongdoing by former Premier Sir John Swan or others.

But Mr. Moniz said he was disturbed by an "epidemic of amnesia'' among civil servants.

Dr. Terceira testified after Cabinet met yesterday morning and agreed to a commission request to partially waive the rules of Cabinet secrecy.

As requested by commission chairman Mr. Telford Georges, only the topics discussed and the conclusions reached could be disclosed. What was said by anyone at the meeting remained under a blanket of secrecy.

One of two topics at the 5.30 p.m. meeting was "whether the referendum should proceed the next day'', said Dr. Terceira, who was bounced from Cabinet once Dr. David Saul succeeded Sir John as Premier in the wake of the referendum "no'' vote.

"The conclusion was that the referendum should proceed the next day,'' he said.

And that was not decided until just after 7 p.m., he said. "I remember distinctly, because I was wondering when a conclusion would be reached in order to catch the seven o'clock news ... for public information.'' The commission has been told that although returning officers were sent out early in the afternoon to open and close their polling stations and adjourn the vote until 10 a.m. the next day, no public announcement was made that the referendum would go ahead until after Cabinet met.

Dr. Terceira said he was "stunned'' on the morning of August 15 when he heard Cabinet Secretary Mr. Leopold Mills say on radio the referendum was "cancelled and therefore postponed indefinitely''.

Mr. Mills has testified he made an administrative decision based on common sense and public safety, without consultation with the Premier or other members of Cabinet.

Mr. Georges, a retired Court of Appeals judge, is now to meet with fellow commission members Dr. Walwyn Hughes and Ms Sonia Grant and prepare a report for Governor Lord Waddington. It is expected before the end of the month.

As the hearing wrapped up, commission counsel Mr. Richard Hector said it was clear that if Governor Lord Waddington had not summoned Mr. Mills to Government House on the morning of August 15 and directed that returning officers be sent out, "the referendum would not have proceeded on that day and an act of Parliament would have been required'' to set a new date.

Although the commission had heard a lot of speculation, "I could find no evidence which could lead us to a conclusion that anyone had any motive to (break) the law,'' Mr. Hector said.

While he appeared to agree there was no evidence of wrongdoing, Mr. Georges said that might be "putting it too strongly'' since it seemed clear Sir John would have preferred a December referendum.

Mr. Georges hinted strongly that a call for a separate Referendum Act would be part of the commission's recommendations. Had such an act existed, a new Independence Referendum Act 1995 would not have been needed for the August vote.

He suggested clearer direction also needed to be given on what should happen when all of Bermuda was disrupted by a disaster on the day of a vote. Section 44 of the Parliamentary Election Act, which was used to adjourn the referendum for 24 hours, was meant to deal with disturbances in a particular polling district and was not an "elegant'' way of dealing with a hurricane that affected all of Bermuda.

Also yesterday: Mr. Georges dismissed the view that the referendum outcome would have been decided by advance polls had the vote not gone ahead on August 16.

Advance polls, by definition, had to be in advance of the actual poll, or they meant nothing, he said. "If the Governor was concerned about that, I think it was a mistaken legal view,'' he said.

Inquiry wraps up, report expected by end of month From Page 1 Commission member Ms Sonia Grant pressed Mr. Mills about the weather information he relied on around August 15.

Ms Grant noted that Parliamentary Registrar Mrs. Marlene Christopher left an August 14 meeting in Mr. Mills' office with the impression a category four hurricane was expected to hit Bermuda on referendum morning.

But the Bermuda Weather Service had issued a bulletin hours earlier predicting that a much weaker category two hurricane would hit Bermuda not on the morning of August 15, but at midnight on August 14, Ms Grant said.

"I'm not sure exactly how to answer that, except to say that there was still a severe risk that Bermuda was going to be struck by this rather dangerous hurricane,'' Mr. Mills said. "I can't put it any more precisely than that.'' Ms Grant also noted that on the morning of August 17, Mr. Mills gave a television interview in which he said Bermuda had been "in the teeth of'' a category three hurricane, when in fact a category one hurricane had skirted the Island by about 40 miles.

"I was acting on the information that I had available at the time,'' Mr.

Mills said. "If I said category three, I stand by it. I'm certainly not resigning from that.'' Earlier, Mr. Mills testified arrangements had been made for the Bermuda Weather Service to fax all hurricane bulletins to him at the Cabinet Building.

Three returning officers testified about their actions on August 15, and all agreed they knew when they took their ballot boxes to their polling stations on the afternoon of August 15 that they were adjourning the referendum until the next day.

Mr. Mills testified he could not recall Sir John raising the option of a December referendum during a "side meeting'' on August 13 involving himself, the then Premier, then Transport Minister Maxwell Burgess, Attorney General Mr. Elliott Mottley and assistant director of Government Information Services Mrs. Valerie Pethen.

But he would not be surprised if it was raised, in light of a promise made to students that the vote would be held while they were on the Island.

"In my mind, if the referendum did not take place in August, the next logical date would be December,'' Mr. Mills said.

Mr. Mills testified he may have typed a news release from the Premier sent out later that evening which said the referendum would proceed, "if Felix permits''.

Asked why no contingency plans had been made to make sure returning officers could get to their polling stations on August 15 and adjourn the vote for 24 hours, Mr. Mills said: "The legislature in its wisdom made no provision for what ought to happen'' if an act of God prevented a referendum or election from taking place.

Mr. Mills said he also could not recall telling GIS director Mr. Gavin Shorto to make no public announcement about the referendum until after Cabinet met.

However, "it's possible that I did'', he said.