standards are never desirable and will always be difficult to maintain and Bermuda now has a well publicised double standard over the employment of foreign spouses of Bermudians in the public and the private sector.

The Public Service Commission, chaired by Mrs. Jeanette Cannonier, does not follow in its hiring for the Civil Service the Government rule which places foreign spouses of Bermudians on an equal footing in the job market with Bermudians. In a public speech Mrs. Cannonier has gone so far as to call the Government policy "ridiculous'' and the Public Service Commission has not amended its regulations to comply with the policy.

So now you have a situation where foreign spouses have a Government policy which gives them a level playing field in the private sector but not in the Civil Service. Do as we say but not as we do, is an untenable position for any Government.

When Government made the decision to allow foreign spouses equal employment opportunity we were very surprised, almost doubting. The decision seemed to be so far removed from the previous protectionist policy as to be unreal. But whether you like the decision or not it was made and it is public policy even if Mrs. Cannonier does object "personally''.

Yet the Minister of Immigration, John Irving Pearman, is not prepared to correct the situation. He has said, "It doesn't necessarily follow that because the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs may take something forward for change that the PSC has to adopt that.'' In this newspaper's view, it does not necessarily follow that because Government passes a law the people want to obey either but they are usually forced to.

The Minister is also quoted as saying that it is not unusual for the PSC and the rest of the Country to be out of sync when it came to hiring. That, of course, is a situation which most people will find quite extraordinary.

Mr. Pearman also had no comment on whether the PSC should amend its regulations to comply with the new law, being quoted as saying that it was up to "the PSC themselves and their advisers''.

We do recognise the desirability of an independent Public Service Commission making the best decisions it can on public hiring. But surely those decisions have to be within the framework of the law as it applies to the Country as a whole.