president of the Bermuda National Trust.

The 59-year-old newspaperman stands as the likely successor to current president Mrs. Patsy Phillips, who will end her three-year term when the Trust gathers for its annual general meeting next week.

Although the new Trust president will be elected by members of the Trust's council some time after the meeting, Trust members say Mr. White's election is almost a pro forma matter.

"The natural successor, in my view, is David White,'' two-time past president Col. Michael Darling said on Friday.

"He's deputy president. He's very experienced. He's been a very good chairman of the capital campaign committee. He's the most likely person to get the job.'' Col. Darling made the comment as he disclosed details of plans by a special committee of past Trust Presidents to double the number of elected council members to ten. The 13-member council is the Trust's policy-making body.

The move is intended to broaden the council's accountability to the Trust's membership and is the key feature of a restructuring plan that will be put to a vote at the May 26 general meeting.

The Past President's Committee has proposed that all members of the council apart from the three Government-appointed members be elected.

The plan would remove single-appointment making power from Keep Bermuda Beautiful, the Garden of Bermuda, the Historical Societies of St. George's and Bermuda and the Audubon Society. Under current practice, only five council members are elected by the membership.

The Past Presidents also propose staggering the election of council members to promote continuity in the handling of Trust affairs.

"The general intent is to make the council more truly responsive to the membership of the National Trust,'' said Col. Darling, who chaired the Past Presidents committee.

"Rotating elections is to try and ensure continuity down the road, to avoid possible total change in command in any one year.'' If the changes are adopted, they will require legislative approval from Parliament.

The Past President's plan comes at a time when the Trust is trying to re-order itself following last year's ugly row that resulted in the removal of Trust director Mr. Alwyn McKittrick.

The row soured Trust relations and led to the first-time formation of the Past President's committee to "review operations.'' Its members included lawyer Mr. John Ellison, Mr. Michael King, Mr. Dennis Sherwin, the Hon. Gerald Simons and Mr. Andrew Trimingham.

In its March 25 report, the committee reported that "most, if indeed not all, problems arose from personality clashes of one sort or another and while there was certainly room for improvement there was nothing drastically and inherently wrong with the structure of the Trust''.

Nevertheless, the committee noted the Trust had not reviewed its operations since its creation 23 years before and proposed changes that "would better withstand and contain any conflicts of personality that will undoubtedly arise from time to time''.

The committee determined the Trust's structure and internal responsibilities must be clearly defined, understood and closely followed. "This has not been the case for some time in the past,'' it said.

It reported consensus among Trust officers and members interviewed that the Council's role was policy-making and the director the chief executive officer.

"It did not seem to us that this position had been so well accepted in the past,'' the report said.

The committee's final recommendations urged the Trust to educate its entire membership and staff on the respective roles of the Council, its subcommittees and professional staff.

It also suggested the preparation of five-year and ten-year plans and to implement them before the end of 1993.