hours yesterday, as the House of Assembly broke for its summer recess.

The House is not set to meet again until November 3.

Government backbencher the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto opened the debate, asking why submissions that banks and others had made to the committee that wrote Government's Independence Green Paper had not been made public.

If the submissions were tabled in the House, the effects Independence would have on Bermuda would be "a lot clearer'' to the public, she said.

"I have heard absolutely no explanation as to why this hasn't been done. In fact, there has been a resounding silence.'' Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto also repeated her earlier call for anti-stalking laws in Bermuda.

And she charged that Government had been too distracted by the Independence issue to prepare the legislation.

Shadow Finance Minister Mr. Eugene Cox , commenting on Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul's announcement yesterday that a recently-imposed capital gains tax on the sale of homes purchased by non-Bermudians would be removed, noted that the Opposition had been critical of the tax when the Budget was read in February.

"I hope this is the beginning of something new,'' in Government responding to criticisms from the Opposition and others, Mr. Cox said.

St. George's South MP Mr. Rick Spurling (UBP) raised concerns about the Longbird Bridge, which had been a problem for many years and has been stuck open several times in recent weeks.

This presented a "disastrous image'' to visitors, and could lead to a serious problem if a fire broke out in the East End and trucks were unable to cross the bridge.

The decision to close the bridge at peak Airport hours was "a temporary solution'', but a new bridge was needed, Mr. Spurling said.

Estimates for a Watford-Style bridge ranged from $10 million to $40 million, Mr. Spurling said. He suggested costs could be reduced by having a bridge that did not open, but that was high enough for most marine traffic to pass beneath it.

He understood the Minister of Works & Engineering planned to survey the causeway to make sure it was stable.

Picking up on the same theme, Shadow Environment Minister Rev. Trevor Woolridge said he could imagine the "embarrassment'' Government must have felt when the Longbird Bridge became stuck open the same day Bermuda took over the Airport.

Similarly embarrassing were the long Immigration lines due to the large number of aircraft that arrived at the Airport at about the same time, Mr. Woolridge said.

If Government could not control the timing of air arrivals, they could control Airport facilities. Why were there only two luggage belts to handle up to five or six planes and 600 to 700 passengers? he asked.

Mr. Woolridge questioned why the Environment Minister had welcomed talk of Canadian longliners using facilities at the US Base.

The last time Canadian fishermen worked in Bermuda, both Bermudians and Canadians got the short end of the stick, Mr. Woolridge said.

"It didn't work out. This time it will,'' Deputy Premier the Hon. Irving Pearman interpolated.

Mr. Woolridge charged that Canadian fishermen received fuel concessions, while Bermudians received no benefits whatsoever.

Mrs. Grace Bell (UBP), turning to Management and Technology Minister the Hon.

Grant Gibbons recent announcement on telecommunications, said she felt "somewhat proud'' of herself, due to repeated public complaints she has made about the Bermuda Telephone Company.

She had seen poor telephone service, not only at her business in Hamilton, but at her new condominium in Hamilton Parish.

Now, three new companies would be coming on line, and "this bodes well for the consumer in this Country,'' she said.

Bermudians had to start standing up for themselves more, she said.

Mr. Ottiwell Simmons (PLP) said he had lately been hearing conflicting concepts of how the economy should operate. There was criticism about Telco being a monopoly, yet the hotels complained they had too much competition.

While he recognised that competition was good for trade, Mr. Simmons felt Telco had provided jobs for Bermudians from the bottom to the top. It had also provided a telecommunications system that helped attract exempt business as a second pillar to the economy.

Mr. Simmons then turned to traffic problems, and said while cycles were quicker for getting around, they were much more dangerous, due to the large number of cars on the Island.

He suspected that even visitors were hiring cars, despite the fact it was against the law. "That might be a very dangerous situation, because they not only don't know where they're going, but they don't know which is the right side of the road,'' Mr. Simmons said.

Bermuda had carved up the Island to accommodate cars, and a remedy had to be found.

Mr. Simmons then touched on a news report that 19 cycles were recently stolen in a single day. "This is tragic,'' he said. Bike theft "pays well and you never get caught,'' he said.

The MP suggested that he might have had more bikes stolen than anyone.

"What does that indicate?'' interpolated Mr. Pearman. "Lock the bloody things up.'' Mr. Simmons replied that Mr. Pearman, who is managing director of Holmes Wiliams & Purvey Ltd., "is only able to report a profit to his shareholders because of the bikes stolen from me.'' A prevention programme to cut bike thefts was needed, Mr. Simmons said.

Mr. Pearman said he did not think the number of vehicles was the main problem with traffic congestion.

Greater flexibility in working hours should be looked at. Then people would drive to work at more varied times.

Police Commissioner Mr. Colin Coxall recently presented Mr. Pearman with his draft plan for the force, and "one aspect is developing a programme for dealing with thefts of motorcycles,'' Mr. Pearman said.

As for Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto's concerns, the documents she referred to were private ones, and it would be wrong for Government to release them without the authors' consent, he said. "The honourable member as a lawyer has to know that would be wrong.'' Mr. Walter Lister (PLP) said he agreed with Mr. Simmons that Telco had been a good corporate citizen and had done a good job of employing Bermudians. He had not experienced the problems with telephone service that Mrs. Bell had.

Motion to Adjourn coverage to continue in Monday's paper