the Country. The days when Premiers were well placed and preferred to continue to live in their own homes seem to be over and in the case of the new Premier, it is clearly more convenient to have a central home than to commute from St.

George's. Premiers are very busy and need a home which is "handy''.

Camden is a wonderful official residence for dinners and other entertaining and allows for the proper reception of visiting dignitaries in a very Bermudian setting but we cannot see any way how it could be turned into a home without extensive renovations or additions which would upset conservationists.

We think it is best left alone and that the Premier should reside elsewhere.

There has been talk of buying a suitable house but there has also been consideration given to the use of Montpelier which is traditionally occupied by the Deputy Governor. Despite what it might look like from the outside, Montpelier is not a very good house. It is old and over the years has been chopped and changed and not especially well looked after.

If we are going to talk about the existing Government-owned residences, it seems that Clifton would be much more suitable for a Premier in terms of both its setting and its amenities. However it is the official residence of the Chief Justice and it would not be easy to find somewhere suitable as a residence for that post.

While the new Government is looking at "housing'', it is probably time to give thought to new accommodation for the courts, especially the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

Ideally the branches of Government should be housed together with the executive in one place, the judiciary in another and the legislature in a third. Right now the executive shares space with the Senate, the upper house of Parliament, at the Cabinet Building on Front Street where the leader of the Senate does not even have an office. The lower House of Assembly shares with the Supreme Court in the Sessions House and the rest of the judiciary is spread about generally in poor quarters. It is important to give dignity to the courts.

It has "always been that way'' but none of it seems to be an ideal situation both from a political point of view and the point of view of good organisation.

The solution might be to leave the Executive, the Premier and the Cabinet, in the Cabinet Building, locate both Houses of Parliament in the Sessions House and build a new proper court complex. There are, of course, other permutations.

The important thing is a suitable central home where the Premier can live as Bermuda would want its Leader to live. There will doubtless have to be changes to the house and security installations so we should remember this may take some time.