Independence.

The Premier wants Bermudians to vote on the question: "Are you in favour of Independence for Bermuda?'' But Mr. Nour Driss, who monitors Bermuda for the UN, said this was not the right question.

"The form of the question may not be very fair,'' he said. "It should be put in a different manner.'' The question should not just invite a yes or no answer, said Mr. Driss.

Instead, voters could be given a choice of options.

He said a possible question could be as follows.

"I am in favour of: (1) continuing Bermuda's current status, (2) an Independent state.'' Mr. Driss is secretary of a UN sub-committee on decolonisation in New York.

Last year he sat on a commission of inquiry in Curacao that designed a referendum on the future status of the island.

"One of the most difficult decisions that the commission faced was to define the questions.

"We ended up having four questions that more or less represented all possible options.

"The government made the mistake of backing one option. When that option lost, the government fell.'' The Curacao referendum covered various options involving the island's relationship to the rest of the Netherlands Antilles and to the Netherlands itself.

Mr. Driss said there might be Bermudians who wanted a closer relationship with Britain or even complete integration.

"If there are people like that, I don't see why they should be deprived,'' he said.