food franchise operations in their towns. The question has to be: What took them so long? If they had both made their views clear much sooner then this debate might not have dragged on so long. The Cabinet and Grape Bay Ltd. might well have taken comfort from the silence of the mayors. As it is, this debate, the importance of which should not be underestimated or dismissed, has torn apart the United Bermuda Party, disrupted the Country, distracted us all from other important business and created an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion. All of that came about because Cabinet misread the public. The Mayors could and should have made their position clear.

Neither Corporation has the power to stop fast food franchises from opening in their precincts but they clearly have a good deal of clout and can pressure Government. Will they succeed? Only a foolish Government flies in the face of everyone.

The history of St. George's and its major part in cultural tourism makes it unsuitable for fast food franchises yet the old town does allow other activities which are unsuitable. It is not difficult to imagine how much damage would be done by greedy promoters opening chains in the old town.

Of course, Hamilton already has experience with Kentucky Fried Chicken. That creates endless double parking as well as litter. Hamilton Mayor William Boyle is quoted as saying, "The feeling is that the Corporation of Hamilton would rather not see international fast food franchises in our City or Bermuda.'' "In our City or in Bermuda'' is an important statement.

We have often been told that McDonald's would provide jobs. In the US McDonald's works on minimum wage jobs and there is no indication that Bermudians would be happy with those. Then too no small Bermudian business would be able to compete with the massive McDonald's advertising campaigns which come into Bermuda -- free to the McDonald's promoters. Those same campaigns encourage Bermudians to think of McDonald's as very inexpensive but we all know the local prices will be higher.

Mr. Boyle and his Corporation understand the business problem. He has pointed out that Hamilton already has good Bermudian fast food shops. In other words, no one wants to deprive anyone of hamburgers. But, while ruining Bermuda's quality image, McDonald's and other fast food franchises would destroy any number of small Bermudian fast food restaurants and lunch wagons, both in Hamilton and elsewhere. To what purpose? To further enrich a few politicians while providing low level jobs.

The mayors must have caused the David Dodwell committee looking into fast food franchises to stop and think. As Mr. Boyle has said, "...if we Americanise Bermuda we might as well be another part of the US''.