Government will delay debate on a controversial piece of legislation to allow more public consultation, it was announced yesterday.

The Historic Wrecks Act was due to be debated in the House of Assembly today, but will now be delayed until May when MPs return from their Easter break, Finance Minister Grant Gibbons said.

Last night the move was welcomed by Government backbench MP Trevor Moniz -- who declined to reveal if he would have voted against the Bill -- and the National Trust.

"I would not like to say how I would have voted,'' said Mr. Moniz.

"Certainly I had some concern about the legislation. I would have had difficulty supporting it the way it is.'' Amanda Outerbridge, the Trust's director, added: "We had a Council meeting and wrote to the Finance Minister asking for a delay.

"We have not been consulted on the legislation and I think it is appropriate that we have an opportunity to have some input.'' The Act has split the archeological and diving community with Maritime Museum Director Dr. Edward Harris strongly opposed to the legislation which he claimed sold out the Island's heritage.

Mr. Moniz, a trustee of the Maritime Museum, also believes there are holes in the legislation -- including a lack of regulations governing shipwrecks -- and called for it to be delayed.

"I will now urge the Maritime Museum board to appoint a sub-committee to look at the Act and report back with recommendations that we can send to the Minister,'' said Mr. Moniz.

Ms Outerbridge added that the Trust met earlier this week to debate the issue and had sent a request to Dr. Gibbons to delay debate.

"The National Trust has never had a copy of the draft legislation, but I am sure that was just an oversight,'' she said.

"We will now get a copy and examine it in detail, in conjunction with existing legislation as well as legislation that exists elsewhere, and give our input to the Minister.'' Last night, Dr. Gibbons said the decision to delay debate was taken after discussion at the UBP's weekly Caucus meeting yesterday and would allow more public discussion on the issue.

"The Trust said it had not had a chance to look at the Bill. I was surprised because there has been a lot of discussion over this for the last couple of years.

"However, I thought it would be useful to get the National Trust's input so we will put the Bill over to the next sitting of the House in May to allow more debate.'' Trevor Moniz MP WRECKS WKS