Ministry of Education. The General Secretary of the Bermuda Union of Teachers, Senator Milton Scott, has been quoted as saying that the audit is in response to public pressure and public discontent with the functioning of the Ministry and we have to believe that he is correct. We have to believe that the revelation that three people flew to New Zealand in search of one teacher was the final straw for a public long disenchanted with the Ministry of Education.

Whatever the reasons, an audit of the functioning of the Education Ministry is both sensible and desirable.

We believe that the present Minister, Mr. Jerome Dill, inherited a mess which has been the political downfall of his two predecessors and which added little to the careers of some other ministers like Mr. William Cox.

Mr. Dill has said in a public statement that he would be assisted as Minister of Education by an independent second opinion. We think that is correct because we believe that Mr. Dill inherited a highly controversial ministry with flawed education policies and an expensive, top-heavy and not very effective administration.

Clearly an outside audit is the most desirable. The Shadow Minister for Education Jennifer Smith was on the broadcast media saying that there are people at the Education Ministry who can tell us what is wrong. Clearly she is mistaken because anyone now in the Ministry may well be part of the problem.

In any case, if those on the inside know what is wrong they should have taken steps to have it corrected by now.

Mr. Dill said that he was looking for auditors from the United States, the United Kingdom or from Canada. We were a little alarmed at the suggestion that they might come from Canada. With some notable exceptions like Dr. David Archibald, the advice we have received in the past from Canada has not always served Bermuda well and attempts to adopt the Canadian mega secondary school system are a large part of the Ministry's problem.

In any case, a regular independent audit of large government departments which are spending public money is entirely desirable. We think the public would be more comfortable if several other ministries were subject to regular audit, for examples Public Works and Tourism. If there had been regular audits of the Police Service in recent years there might have been far less work for Police Commissioner Colin Coxall or he might not have been needed at all.

Of course civil servants do not want their department poked at by outsiders.

They would like to go on in their own way but their own way might not be the best for Bermuda. However, from the public's point of view, the Civil Service should be accountable and the politicians should be responsible for the Civil Service being accountable, thus it is entirely desirable to regularly review what the civil servants are doing and whether Bermuda is being well served and public money well spent.