to the Police Service. Clearly it is highly desirable to have a Bermudianised service and that is no criticism of the many highly effective and dedicated non-Bermudians who have served Bermuda so well as Policemen for many years.

The new Commissioner of Police has, quite correctly, made Bermudianisation a personal priority. Perhaps, like this newspaper, the new Commissioner has been encouraged because in very recent years there has seemed to be some hope that, finally, Bermudians were being encouraged to become Policemen and Policewomen.

Traditionally young Bermudians have had some problem accepting the unpleasant Police duty of running in their friends, relatives and neighbours. In a small country like Bermuda, it is very difficult to escape the social pressures and the criticisms resulting from carrying out these duties. This newspaper has similar problems encouraging Bermudians to become reporters simply because they find it difficult to report on the doings, notably the unpleasant doings, of people they are acquainted with in a tiny community. In more recent years, we think there has been greater understanding and acceptance of the fact that people with this kind of authority or responsibility are bound simply to do their job.

Thus we find it hard to believe that just at a time when Bermudians seemed to be getting more comfortable with Police service the training for young Police hopefuls has become a victim of the recession. We would have thought that this recession, a time when easy jobs might not be so plentiful, could be exactly the right time to encourage Bermudians into tough Police work with its social limitations and unsociable hours. Instead we have been told that pre-entry Police training courses are now suspended "for financial reasons''. Other Police Force courses are continuing.

It does seem to us that the Police, and especially Police training, should be the last to be hit by "financial reasons'' in a recession. We understand that Government just like private business has been hit in the wallet. However we think there should be careful identification of areas where cuts can be made without basic disruption. When any country has fat years, and Bermuda has enjoyed a long period of fat years, projects which are "nice'' to have are implemented but are not strictly necessary. Those projects should be cut first.

We know that Government has to cut and we think Government should demonstrate to the public that it will cut rather than raise recession time taxes.

However, we do not think that Police training should be among the first cuts.

Training Bermudians for the Police Service is a necessity and Bermuda should be cutting luxuries. How about starting with GP cars?