of Butterfield president Michael Collier earlier this week took his views to the streets in a National Association for Reconciliation meeting held at Wesley Methodist Church Hall.

Far from the suits and ties of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Mr. Collier threw himself to the mercy of a small gathering of citizens and race-relation activists, including Shadow Human Affairs Minister Dr. Ewart Brown and Dr. Eva Hodgson, co-founder of NAR.

Eyeing the sparse crowd, Mr. Collier expressed disappointment, saying the low turnout was unfortunately indicative of the weight Bermudians attached to the issue of race relations. The meeting had received advanced publicity in The Royal Gazette and on radio.

" I was under the impression there would be an awful lot of people here and that bothers me,'' he said.

"I don't believe people are being sufficiently honest and open about the question of racism. For many it seems to be just a nine-to-five issue.

"I say that because that's the typical work day. After 5 p.m. people return to their homes and families where blacks become black and whites become white,'' he later told The Royal Gazette .

In March Mr. Collier stepped into a firestorm when he told a gathering from the Chartered Institute of Bankers he was puzzled by the concept of institutional racism and accused the UBP Government of playing the race card to shore-up its slumping popularity.

Critics -- including the NAR's Dr. Hodgson and the PLP's Dr. Brown -- blasted him at the time for having no concept of the realities of racial discrimination.

Tuesday night's NAR appearance had been touted as a dialogue in black and white but -- following brief opening comments -- Mr. Collier quickly found himself relegated to the role of listener as speaker after speaker rose to offer their insights into Bermuda's racial divide.

"Friends said I was walking into a lion's den,'' said Mr. Collier, "but once Eva Hodgson and Sandy (Frith) Brown got going that was it for me.'' Dr. Hodgson earlier pointed out that wide open debate was the nature of all NAR meetings.

When eventually questioned on Bank of Butterfield racial policies Mr. Collier pointed out all bank employees -- regardless of colour -- were eligible for training courses and he quickly refuted the suggestion that the bank denied loans to black applicants.

"If was to say there hadn't been problems with bank policies in the past I'd be a liar,'' he said in response to a question by Dr. Brown.

"But we took steps years ago to hire black lending officers and mortgage officers. Part of the problem,'' he added, "is we only hear half the truth (concerning loan applications).'' The condition of the Island's young black male population dominated discussion and Mr. Collier lamented the fact that few males applied or were qualified for work in the financial sector.

"One of the issues we have in Bermuda is the breakdown of social and family order. That's one of the reasons the Bank of Butterfield became involved with the Concert in the Park Series. We saw it as project that brought families together through appreciation of music. The Butterfield Mile is another attempt to get families involved with each other,'' he said.

"A lot of family units have broken down and we don't know why. Is it because of technology or TV? Who can say. At the bank we have training courses available to everybody but the problem is we haven't been getting the young males. Most of our applicants are females.'' "It's important,'' he added, " that we sit down with organisations like the Bermuda College and say this is what we'll need over the next few years. We've got to get something going with these kids, but we can't hold their hands either.''