made for doing so, Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul said this week.

But Dr. Saul said he did not believe the time was ripe to abolish Customs duties across the board.

His comments came after former Chamber of Commerce president Mr.Thomas Dickinson on Monday called for Customs duties to be abolished, saying they were making Bermuda less and less competitive.

Mr. Dickinson said he did not have a substitute for the duties, which make up 30 percent of Government's revenues, but he rejected income tax.

"I hope he is not suggesting we abandon all duties,'' Dr. Saul said. "But he should know that if there is ever a case to be made for lowering duties, we are always amenable. He knows we have regularly lowered taxes on watches and jewellery and so on.

"All the Chamber has to do is make representations to us.'' While Dr. Saul rejected abolishing Customs duties, he said the system was always under review and noted that Government had not raised Customs duties in the past few years.

He said that was why Government had reduced its revenues from Customs duties from over half the Budget to 30 percent.