confusion about who is and is not eligible and who does and does not have Status. That surely is no surprise since Government constantly changes the rules.

The latest decision is that there will no longer be discretionary Bermuda Status. We have had a moratorium for five years on Status which runs out in July. After that it appears that there will be no returning to the pre-moratorium position of limited discretionary Status. Now only people with close Bermudian family ties will be eligible for Bermuda Status.

Pre-moratorium, non-Bermudians with British nationality who had worked here for more than seven years could apply for Bermuda Status but, in practical terms, Status was only granted to people who had been here much longer.

The system was always open to claims of political abuse and some grants were questionable as there was never any hard and fast criteria. But, by and large, deserving people who had devoted a major part of their lifetimes to the benefit of Bermuda and its people received Status.

Unfortunately, the manner in which Bermuda played around with Status grants created the totally improper impression that Bermuda Status is second rate citizenship. This has encouraged some politicians, notably Mr. Stuart Hayward, to suggest that Bermuda has to decide whether or not Bermudians with Status should have a vote on Independence. It has also created a thoroughly wrong "them and us'' atmosphere between born Bermudians and Status Bermudians. In fact, the terms should not exist and we should have only Bermudians, be they Bermudians by birth or by grant.

What we seem to be saying now is that no-one can have Status unless they are in a stable marriage, whatever that is considered to be, with a Bermudian.

There are serious traps in that decision. First of all, there are people who have been waiting for the moratorium to end and who have been encouraged to think that they might then have a chance at Status. Secondly, there are people who come here to work and while here contribute greatly to Bermuda to the point that they stand out as deserving of being Bermudian. Apparently, that will not be possible under the new regulations no matter how valuable a person is to Bermuda or how much they contribute.

It should also be remembered just how much non-Bermudians do for Bermuda in a general sense. There is a huge amount of work done for Government and for Bermudian organisations and charities by people on work permits. Many of them never have any intention of trying for Bermudian Status. However, if it is made clear to people that they can never hope for Status no matter what they do for Bermuda, then some will be quite justified in taking their pay cheque and going to the beach. Surely Bermuda, if only for selfish reasons, would like to maximise the contribution to the Country by people resident in the Country and it is unwise to limit that contribution.

It also seems to us to be ill advised to make hard and fast rules about Bermuda Status when Bermudians continue to seek citizenship, not Status but proper non-revokable citizenship, in other countries. Most countries today are liberal with citizenship relative to Bermuda. There are thousands of born Bermudians living and working overseas but no reciprocation. There is always the danger that other countries could be angered by our nationalistic stand and turn away Bermudians. As long as Bermuda leaves a door open it guards against that situation but as soon as there are stated rules of exclusion there is an opening for a problem.

There never seems to be any real reason for changing the rules on Bermuda Status except that Government tries to bend to the political noise of the moment. That is not the way to plan anything so important. Citizenship should not depend, as it appears to do, on the views of the sitting Minister of Home Affairs.