harassment passed through the House of Assembly on Friday night.

Deputy Premier Jerome Dill presented the two clause Criminal Code Amendment Act 1998 noting that while it was small, it was particularly significant.

"It deals with the issue of racial slurs when individuals are in a face to face situation,'' he said.

The previous Criminal Code amendments made in 1995 were defective because they had omitted the fact that the offence of racial harassment could be committed by means of oral communication.

Shadow Legislative Affairs Minister Lois Browne-Evans said the amendment was another case of the Government rushing legislation and being negligent.

She noted that the main way to express racial hatred "is by your lips, your voice, your words''.

Shadow Labour, Home Affairs & Public Safety Minister Alex Scott said a very nasty situation had drawn Government's attention to the need to amend the Criminal Code.

Mr. Scott, who is understood to have been referring to a court case in March involving then-guest worker Christine Allaire who pleaded guilty to obstructing Police and using offensive words, said the person received a "slap on the wrists'' from the courts.

Meanwhile Government never stepped in to demonstrate that Ms Allaire's behaviour was a totally unacceptable form of behaviour by a guest worker, he added.

Instead it took her firm -- Centre Re Insurance -- to step in and dismiss her.

Mr. Scott then claimed that Ms Allaire was back on the Island and said there was a possibility that she might return to work locally.

If this was the case then Government had to act swiftly in order to demonstrate how sincere it was about eliminating racism.

Shadow Human Affairs Minister Ewart Brown said name-calling, while offensive, was not the real issue. Racism was a global issue and had to be confronted to the point that race did not matter.

However Mr. Dill noted that there were people who did care about name calling and the legislation was for them.

And he noted that racism existed on many levels and he was determined to attack the scourge on each one.

He added that he would look into Mr. Scott's allegations about Ms Allaire.

The bill was then passed.

Control over Bermuda's water resources will be transferred from the Works and Engineering Ministry to the Ministry of the Environment.

With the Senate's recent passage of the Water Resources Amendment Act 1998, responsibility for one of the Island's most precious resources will shift from the Water Authority into the hands of the Environment Authority.

UBP Sen. Allan Marshall told his colleagues that the amendment also incorporated the former Baselands into the Act and allows for small vessels to be fined for polluting the water.

And he said that by shifting the responsibility for the water supply, it would make it easier to protect all facets of the environment.

"This amendment is really creating one-stop shopping with regards to environmental matters, be it water or air,'' Sen. Marshall added.

Independent Sen. Walwyn Hughes pointed out how fortunate Bermuda was to have developed its fresh water resources.

And Sen. Hughes paid tribute to those who carried out extensive geological work which has allowed Bermuda the ability to retrieve 1.5 million gallons of water from the lenses if the need ever arose.