challenge for Bermuda but not a threat. Yes, it will be expensive. Yes, it will press Bermuda to find a replacement for the income we have received from the bases and so often taken for granted. Yes, it means Bermuda has to get up and get going and find some solutions.

There is not doubt that we will have heavy expenses in operating the Airport in terms of air traffic control, crash and rescue services and maintenance, but we should be able to obtain those at a reasonable price and put parts of the base to use to compensate for the expense.

The solutions we need to find will bother us only in the short term. In the long term, having the bases land back is a huge plus for Bermuda. Remember, the bases occupy ten percent of our land mass. There are some wonderful pluses in having that land back and Bermuda should be careful to make the most of those pluses. As an example, the East End is beach starved. Have you had a chance to see the beaches at Kindley Field lately? For the first time in several hundred years, Bermudians will occupy all of Bermuda. We have been a cramped Country trying to think up ways to expand our land mass. We have also been pressed to try to find space for all kinds of projects which we may or may not find necessary. Bermuda has been short of land and the land we are going to get back will allow us to plan and to expand and to create fresh opportunities to enhance Bermuda's economy.

However, Bermuda should be careful not to hand this land over to overseas interests just because their involvement might be an easy solution. We must look for new economic aspects to diversify Bermuda's economy.

We are a service industry Country and perhaps we should look for a resident institution which would host numbers of clients who would in fact be visitors to Bermuda. We must however be careful. The United States government is ponderous and it may take so long to reach a decision that the bases facilities are degraded.

The best of all worlds would be to have the base land back by starting now with the Naval Annex which is virtually abandoned. Bermuda must guard against the United States allowing this area to fall completely apart before it returns it to Bermuda. For one thing, there are a number of old Bermudian buildings on both bases which must be preserved. For another, we must do our best to avoid getting back land which is going to cost us a fortune to revive.

Remember that there were nuclear weapons and all sorts of other things at Kindley Field and huge oil dumps at the Annex and try to guard against getting back a highly expensive ecological disaster. It should not be for Bermuda to clean up any mess. The price of more than 50 years of US usage should be to return the bases to Bermuda in decent condition.

To that end, we agree with the suggestion that there should be a group similar to the West End Development Corporation to deal with bases' land. We think it is too big a job and too complicated a situation to be dealt with other than on a full-time basis. No cabinet minister can be expected to do the job as an extra to a ministry.