A bid to set up a commission to look up at historic land grabs has been rejected by Governor George Fergusson.

The move followed a vote in the House of Assembly last week to ask that a Commission of Inquiry should be established to look at “historic losses in Bermuda of citizens’ property through theft of property, dispossession of property, and adverse possession claims.”

But Mr Fergusson said in a letter delivered yesterday to Speaker of the House Randy Horton that the debate had “raised serious concerns of public interest. Some may well be worth further examination. But they are not clear enough or urgent enough to require a Commission of the type proposed.”

PLP MP Walton Brown put the motion forward last Friday and it passed with support from Government MP Suzann Roberts-Holshouser after several members linked to the Mid Ocean Club disqualified themselves from voting.

Mr Brown wanted the inquiry to look at land purchases in Tucker’s Town in the 1920s, when people were removed from the area to create homes in a bid to boost the tourism industry, the compulsory purchase of land for the in the 1940s to create what became the US Naval Air Station.

Mr Brown also wanted an examination of the circumstances surrounding a series of transactions in the 1950s-70s “where concerns were expressed in the House about possible injustices arising from systematic collusive behaviour between lawyers, bankers and estate agents.”

But Mr Fergusson appeared to leave the door open for a Commission if more information on the alleged abuses was to come to light.

The Governor’s letter can be read in full by following the link under related media next to this article