I LIVE AT No. 45, Wanstead Heights, Cave Hill, St Michael. I am a retired judge of the Court of Appeal of Barbados, and there can be no doubt that the reference by the Minister of Finance in his reply on the Budget on Friday, March 16, was referring to me as the person who wrote the Minister of Finance a letter asking for the privilege of purchasing a duty-free car. I did write the Minister of Finance requesting this privilege in 1996 when the Toyota Corolla assigned to me as a judge of the Court of Appeal had to be surrendered on my retirement, and I had no car on retirement. Further, at the time of my retirement, Government was discussing terms and conditions of service for judges, and one of the conditions agreed upon by Government was that judges could, on retirement, take home the cars assigned to them during their term of office at the written-down price agreed upon by Government and the judges. My birth date prevented me from getting this benefit and I therefore decided in 1996 to write the Minister of Finance if he would give me this privilege and the Minister of Finance refused. I, therefore, took the major part of my gratuity to buy a new car. In fact, since my retirement, judges have been given Volvos and BMWs and they have been seen driving these cars on their retirement. The only comment I would make is that the nasty habit of the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of reading letters addressed to him in an official capacity is totally unworthy of the holder of his high office and he must be told that it is wrong and undignified and it must be stopped. It destroys any confidence a citizen may have in his office if someday, somewhere the citizen's letter is to be read in a place where the writer of the letter cannot defend himself and where the reader enjoys the privilege of not being sued for libel. I can only hope that the Minister of Finance will note my comments and will stop this practice. Furthermore, I hope and pray that the people of this country will not give him another opportunity to display the approach he showed in his first opening speech and in his winding up the Budget Debate on Friday, March 16. - FREDERICK G. SMITH
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