David Dodwell, who was named as the Opposition United Bermuda Party's economic empowerment czar last year, has begun to take his show on the road, as evidenced by his speech to Hamilton Rotary this week, which is printed in full on this page.

The UBP faces difficult challenges on this issue. When Mr. Dodwell's appointment was announced, the first criticism was of the "too little too late" kind: "What, the UBP has just realised there is a gap between black and white wealth after 40 years?"

The second problem lies with a party that is still perceived, somewhat inaccurately, as being white dominated, and is seen, more accurately, as drawing support from almost 100 percent of whites, in preaching about empowerment. The fact that Mr. Dodwell is white tends to reinforce this view. Clearly, it will be harder for him to establish his and his party's credibility on the issue than it would be for, say, a Wayne Furbert or a Neville Darrell.

Thirdly, the UBP has been working hard for the last six years to establish itself as a racially aware but colour-blind party. In other words, it acknowledges the racism of the past and present but wants to create a society in which people succeed on the basis of their merits and not because of the colour of their skin.

There is nothing wrong with that and a good deal that is right; it is surely the kind of society where most Bermudians, except for the most bigoted of either race, want to live.

But it does create the odd picture in Mr. Dodwell's speech of an honest and forthright discussion on the disparity of wealth between blacks and whites, but then outlines a series of measures that do not mention race at all.

Instead, they describe plans in which more of Government's contracts would go to small businesses, in which more scholarships would be provided, and in which small business owners would have expanded access to capital; and in which all tenders would be subject to openness and accountability.

Those are all good measures and should be welcomed. it is the kind of programme that the Government, whose own empowerment efforts have been secretive and open to question, should have implemented years ago.

Mr. Dodwell said in his speech that it was important that empowerment should not require that one group of people should lose in order for another group to gain, in part because it is important that the white community not be made to feel they are being punished.

But it still begs the question of whether improving access for small businesses and so on will be enough to increase the black community's share of the economy rapidly enough. What happens if the small businesses that get Government contracts are all white-owned? That's possible under the UBP plan, no matter how undesirable it may be.

But if the alternative is to give contracts to black-owned businesses and then "to refuse to allow them to fail" ? as many argued Government should have done with Pro-Active at the Berkeley site ? no matter now high costs run over or the work is delayed, then it may be the best that a "colour-blind" Government can do.

In the end, businesses will succeed or fall on their own merits. What's important is that they be given an equal opportunity.

Then too, economic opportunity depends on educational attainment. The proverb "if you give a man a fish he eats for a day, but if you teach a man to fish he eats forever", holds true. If people don't have the tools to succeed, no amount of economic empowerment will do it for them.

And that requires continuing to restore confidence in public education and raising educational standards overall. As a general rule, wealthier parents send their children to private school and poorer parents send their children to public school. If public schools fail to match the standards of the private schools, then the gap, not just between white and black, but between rich and poor, will continue to grow.