A warning about the Island's scheduled air service was sounded by Shadow Tourism Minister Mr. David Allen during the second day of the Throne Speech Debate yesterday.

Travel agents were boycotting Delta Air Lines over a cut in commissions, American Airlines was looking at scuttling Raleigh-Durham as a major hub, and safety fears were turning passengers away from USAir, Mr. Allen told the House.

All three developments could adversely effect Bermuda, said Mr. Allen, who called on Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge to develop contingency plans.

Mr. Allen, who spoke for 90 minutes, complained that the Throne Speech devoted "a measly six lines'' to tourism.

And there were no fresh ideas, he said.

While Government had forecast a six to ten percent increase in visitors in 1994, the projections "turned out to be quite optimistic.'' As of November 6, air arrivals were up by only 1.2 percent.

The increase in total visitors of 4.3 percent had only been made possible by the addition of the fifth cruise ship dedicated to St. George's.

Mr. Allen said he sounded the alarm about "creeping softness'' in the tourism figures in June and called for an advertising blitz, but he was "scoffed at'' by Government.

Tourism Board chairman Mr. Kirk Cooper, who had had "an extraorinarily long tenure'' where "fresh blood'' was needed, had cited strong competition from Europe as a reason for the softness. Mr. Allen said he had been "a voice in the wilderness'' calling for stronger marketing in Europe.

Bermuda's tourism industry was being "sacrificed on the ego'' of Mr.

Woolridge, he said.

Mr. Allen said he recently attended three major travel shows, including the World Travel Conference in Lisbon and the World Travel Mart in London.

That was where he picked up storm signals about Bermuda's scheduled air service. While it was important to support scheduled carriers, Bermuda needed a new policy on charter service.

He complained that while the Island had four representatives in Lisbon, it had no booth and held no function for top travel agents.

Why could Bermuda spend $36,000 on an Independence "junket'' to London but not spend $5,000 to recognise the agents that supported the Island's tourism? Billed as "the champagne of destinations,'' Bermuda was embarrassingly cheap at such travel shows, he said.

It would be "absolute folly'' to hike any passenger head taxes in the next Budget, Mr. Allen said.

And the Island's "staid and stuffy advertising campaign'' had to be replaced.

More had to be spent targeting adventure sports, golf, and ecological tourism, he said. And Bermudians, the Country's strongest asset, should be promoted more in the ads.

Mr. Allen called for a sixth cruise ship, arriving in Hamilton on weekends.

And action was needed on Club Med, he said. The owners should "use it or lose it.'' Shadow Health and Social Services Minister Mr. Nelson Bascome said it was important for MPs to know what was happening in the community, but many on the Government side were out of touch.

Mr. Bascome had talked to Police who were concerned about responding to calls with enough manpower and are "concerned about their lives,'' he said.

They wanted a dog unit, and Police response is sometimes slow because officers wish to don flak jackets.

Parish constables should make themselves known to community leaders, said Mr.

Bascome, complaining he had yet to meet the constable in Pembroke East.

Moving to a recent controversy over "black events,'' Mr. Bascome said they were needed to build self-esteem. Nobody complained about Scottish or Filipino events, he said. And nobody said whites could not attend "black events.'' While Mr. Bascome supported programmes for women, he said it was black men who needed the most help in the community.

On community development, politicians had to "get down in the trenches'' to earn respect, he said. "Right now, politician is a bad name.'' Moving to recent allegations about St. Brendan's Psychiatric Hospital reported in the news media, it was "unprofessional'' for Health and Social Services Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness to dismiss the charges as "sleaze,'' he said.

Full investigations into those and other reports were needed, he said. Mr.

Bascome said that the Government had failed to notice that Bermuda was a "prison without walls.'' He said the numbers of young Bermudians who had been placed on the United States stop list given the increasing numbers of people who had been convicted for drug offences, underscored the need for an investigation into how people are placed on the stop list in the first place.

Mr. Bascome also questioned why the Westgate Correctional Facility was now 81 percent full although it had only been open for less than two months.

This percentage did not included those currently at the prison farm or the co-ed prison.

Turning to education and the recent comments carried in The Royal Gazette regarding school boards, Mr. Bascome said it was unfair for the Education Minister to be speaking of such proposals in the media before it had been first debated and thrashed out in Parliament.

Mr. Walter Lister (PLP) described the PLP's reply to the Throne Speech as their 12-month manifesto if they were the Government.

He said that crime had reached the point where senior citizens lived in fear in their homes, leading to an erosion in the country's overall standard of life.

Mr. Lister said 15 years ago he and other Sandys MPs met to address the issue of an ambulance for the west end.

"When is an ambulance going to be placed in the west end?'' he asked.

Meanwhile, Mr. Lister criticised the Throne Speech for not mentioning anything specific about the telecommunications in light of the rapid expansion going on in the field.

He also called on Government to pay particular attention to the way the Bases transition would impact on small businesses, because these entities, he said, employed Bermudians and contributed important money to the Government's coffers through employment taxes and hospital levy.

Fellow Sandys MP Mr.Dennis Lister (PLP) pointed an accusing finger for the problems of crime at the United Bermuda Party.

The party he claimed was responsible for the past "30 years of mismanagement.'' He said it was time for the discussions on crime to look at its root causes which he said was drug addiction.

While echoing the need for proper counselling and rehabilitation for addicts Mr. Lister said that those who sold drugs for profit should be sent to "Westgate and the key should be thrown away.'' In a similar vein, Government he said, needed to spend the money to ensure that persons with disabilities had access to transportation.

Regarding the taxi industry Mr. Lister said Government needed to clearly say where it stood on the myriad issues facing the it.

Moreover, he called for policy and legislation for the taxi industry to be brought to the house so it can be debated.

Management and Technology Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons swept aside opposition reports that the United Bermuda Party were not managing the Bases transition efficiently.

"Our Base transition is a part of a much larger progressive and comprehensive five-year plan,'' he said.

Dr. Gibbons said he agreed with Premier Sir John Swan that social and economic progress was "inextricably intertwined.'' Economic activity, he said, earned foreign exchange revenue and created jobs which helped to maintain the country's social well being.

He said the United Bermuda Party had managed the economy well and it was now important to seek to diversify Bermuda's economy in a way that was consistent with its major industries which are tourism and international business.

One direction that needed to be looked at, he continued, were the new "industrial technologies or knowledge based industries.'' Next week, he explained, the Government would sign its contract with Serco, the company offering the most competitive price to run the Airport.

At the end of the five-year contract he said he expected the Airport's running and management to be in 100 percent Bermudian hands.

To this end, he said, he had visited the Bermuda College earlier in the month to acquaint young Bermudians with the jobs being made available at the Airport and the training required to fill them.

Continued on Monday MR DAVID ALLEN -- The Shadow Tourism Minister says contingency plans are needed if Bermuda is to remain competitive.