low-lying and marshy areas which are naturally subject to flooding in heavy rains. When they built there they knew, or should have known, the dangers but those dangers now seem to have been increased by too much building in threatened areas.

Some building was possible in areas like Pembroke Lane, Bakery Lane and Bull's Head without causing flooding but the more you cover the marshy lands with concrete and asphalt the more you must expect water run off resulting in flooding. The truth seems to be that the areas could sustain some building without flooding but not concentrated building. It is very simple. Heavy rain produces water and if that water has nowhere to go it results in flooding.

Masters Ltd. and the Olympic Club on suffer from flooding which is, of course, highly destructive and disruptive. Yet they were built without flood precautions in a marshy area. Their neighbour, Victoria Park, was the original city dump and created out of reclaimed land. As was traditional in Bermuda, it was used as a dump because it was a marsh. Surely the owners and the architects of these buildings knew there were dangers involved in building in a marshy area.

Marsh areas do flood especially when you start covering them in concrete. That has to be accepted as a problem and solutions sought. The answers may be fairly complex and expensive but nothing can be accomplished until the Corporation of Hamilton and the Department of Planning take the problem seriously. Surely our photograph of two men boating on Bakery Lane must be a call to action. It was not the first time boats have been used in the street and it may not be the last but it does demand solutions.

It seems to us that concentrated building has been allowed which was within the building codes but there was a failure to consider how much water would accumulate as a result of that building. Therefore it must now become a Planning problem and that Department should concern itself with correcting an oversight. However, the Corporation of Hamilton must also approve buildings in the City and therefore it has some responsibility for flooding in its area. So far the Corporation does not seem to be greatly concerned. We have some real sympathy for business owners who say that if the flooding were on Front or Reid Streets it would receive a great deal more attention. But, it was always thus.