unenthusiastic at best. Perhaps that should be expected from a huge project which is doubtless suffering from growing pains. However, the directors must have hoped that BUEI would open as a huge success. From the comments we have heard it would seem to us that too much emphasis was placed on a very elaborate and expensive building and too little on what the institute was to contain and what it was to provide in the way of public interest.

Bermudians and visitors alike have been asking, "What is it?'' "What is it supposed to do?'' One young visiting couple complained to us that they had set aside an afternoon to visit the East Broadway facility and found that there was very little of any interest there. They said that what they called "the posters'' were not very exciting, the shells were pretty and there was a very poor ride for anyone who had been to Disney World.

As we understand it, the BUEI was intended to celebrate Bermuda and the sea which surrounds it in an interactive way but has wound up with largely static exhibits. Other institutions in Bermuda which operate museums were promised from the very beginning of BUEI that it would not contain static exhibits except for the shells which would mainly be used for decoration. Somehow the institute seems to have lost its way.

The BUEI was created by a board of directors comprised of the most successful people in the Country. Some have now resigned, including the chairman. We suspect that while they had great experience in their own fields they had no real idea how to create this facility and failed to take advice. They have now lost their director who is at the top of her field and who will be hard to replace.

It would seem to us that one addition needs to be a film similar in concept to those which the Canadians use so well at Ontario Place which would surround people with the sea and the creatures of the deep.

Another advantage might be a change of name. The present name gives visitors and locals alike the impression that this is a technical and experimental operation and not a place where they might be entertained or enlightened. They stay away because they think it will be above them or outside their interests.

We know that the costs of operation are high but two parents with two children might well be daunted by the admission price which would be all but $30.

We have heard parents complain that if their children want to eat, the restaurant, which has received high praise, is too expensive and too elaborate for families who might well want a convenience meal.

The cost of the installation is now said to be some $22 million and climbing and it will doubtless take a good deal more money to rectify the problems.

About half the money was raised in a very elaborate and expensive fund campaign and we have to be concerned that now that the building exists it should be made productive. We fear that the directors will eventually turn to Government for funding. BUEI needs to attract more than 120,000 admissions each year and that will be hard at the price.