Avenue, Pembroke, yesterday morning.

Jewellery and cash totalling $175 were also taken yesterday from three Warwick properties -- at Pearman's Hill, Spicewood Drive, and Warwick Lane.

Police say thieves mostly broke in through unlocked windows.

MAN'S BABIES BEAR A HEAVY COST CTS Man's babies bear a heavy cost A Devonshire man's "two babies'' helped lead to a $700 fine in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Heavy machine operator Thomas Martin DeSilva told Police two cannabis plants found under a sink at his Middle Road house were his babies.

He was fined $700 for cultivating the plants and for possession of 2.81 grams of cannabis which was also found at the house.

Sgt. Rex Osbourne, prosecuting, said that on May 5, officers arrived at DeSilva's home with a search warrant, and asked him if there were any controlled substances on the premises. He led them to a dresser where a bag with four envelopes of cannabis was found.

Police also discovered hand-rolled cigarette butts in separate rooms, and two plants hidden under a sink. When asked what they were, DeSilva answered, "Them's my babies''.

Asked by Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis if he had anything further to say, DeSilva replied that he had since taken serious steps to help himself.

OPEN REGISTRATION FOR HIP SCHEME GVT Open registration for hip scheme The Social Insurance Department, which administers the Government Health Insurance Plan (HIP), has announced an open registration period.

Persons who do not have hospital insurance coverage can buy the HIP insurance irrespective of their age and state of health. Minimum cost of the benefits is $68 per month.

Every March and September, the department holds open registration to give people, including the unemployed and retired, an opportunity to receive immediate coverage.

Social insurance officer Yvonne Joseph said employers are required under law to provide health insurance coverage for their employees and their nonemployed spouses through group health insurance plans. Self-employed persons and their nonemployed spouses are also required to be insured.

Registration information and application forms are available from the Department of Social Insurance, Government Administration Building, 30 Parliament Street, Hamilton.

THE HIGH COST OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE CTS The high cost of foreign exchange A man who found $137 worth of Italian money in the street was fined $150 fine for not reporting it.

Milton Dill, of Cedar Park Road, Devonshire, appeared in Magist-rates' Court on Monday and admitted stealing 150,000 lire.

Earlier this month two Italian visitors told Police they had 400,000 lire stolen from their rooms, the court heard. Banks were alerted, and on August 6 the Bank of Bermuda reported receiving 150,000 lire.

Police found Dill, 38, on Court Street. He admitted finding the money on Elliott Street and making no attempt to trace the owners or tell Police.

"I didn't have much money, so that's why I took it to the bank,'' he told the court.

LYING IN WAIT -- FOR THE BUS CTS Lying in wait -- for the bus A Devonshire man found lying drunk in the street told Police he was waiting for the bus, Magistrates' Court heard yesterday.

Prosecutor Insp. Peter Duffy said Police were called to the Halfway House Restaurant on the North Shore Road in Flatts with a report that a man was lying in the road.

Upon arrival, Police found Dwayne Burgess in an intoxicated state, unable to stand without assistance, or answer their questions coherently. The 29-year-old painter was then taken into custody.

Burgess, of Dock Hill, was fined $100 by Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis after pleading guilty to being drunk an incapable.