The Progressive Labour Party will continue to work towards Independence, despite the resounding `no' vote from voters in last month's Referendum.

And Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade -- who led the PLP on a boycott of the August 16 referendum -- said this weekend he believed the majority of Bermudians would support the Island gaining its sovereignty.

"The PLP's task from inception was to move Bermuda towards democracy, and our goal and intention for the final step is Independence,'' he told more than 200 people at the Bermuda Industrial Union's Labour Day banquet on Saturday night.

"We will not let anyone deter us from this course and we will not stop until it is on the stove and cooked so we can enjoy the delicacies from Independence.'' In last month's referendum, 73.7 percent of voters who took part voted against Independence while 25.6 percent voted in favour. More than 22,000 or 58.8 percent of voters tunred out to vote.

But Mr. Wade said it was not true to say that 75 percent voted `no' in the referendum.

It was "75 percent of those who voted, voted no'', he said. "The majority voted yes or didn't vote and then there were several other categories of voters including those who were out to get John Swan to ensure his departure.'' "However, there is a solid foundation for us when we are ready. And the majority of Bermudians, given the proper circumstances, would support Independence at the appropriate time.'' Mr. Wade also said the Government's electoral system was based on race and had been designed to achieve a "certain result'' in the early 1960s. He added that Bermudians did not know their own Constitution which should be taught in schools. "We must prepare ourselves for the next election.'' Later the banquet, entitled From Gordon to Independence to mark the 100th anniversary of labour movement founder Dr. E. F. Gordon's birth, was told that they should pass the torch of consciousness on to the younger generation.

The Rev. Otis Moss, aged 24, encouraged guests to clap, shout and pound their fists on their tables in agreement with what he was saying. Mr. Moss talked about the importance of being "conscious'' versus "comfortable'', and he stated that young people must be taught about the struggles of the past in order for them to make way for the future. "Every generation stands on the back of people named and unnamed, and now we have to turn the struggle over to the next generation. "Teach them but let them utilise their own intelligence.'' He added: "When you become conscious people are unable to take away your rights. We must let the generation know about the struggles of the past.'' Mr. Moss also said the younger generation had been labelled as " `the lost generation', but that is wrong''.

"It is that they watched us too closely, and they watched us be comfortable and lose conscious,'' he said. "What our duty is today is to pass the torch.''