The Attorney General has claimed nothing untoward was proven in the Rodney Smith inquiry and the magistrate set to hear the case should have "shut his mouth''.

Dame Lois Browne Evans made the outburst during the Motion to Adjourn in the House of Assembly last night.

It came as Opposition parliamentarians hammered home their concerns that Government is secretive and not acting in an accountable way.

In October, Magistrate Archibald Warner -- now the Senior Magistrate -- said "somewhere along this process somebody tried to interfere'' in the prosecution of Mr. Smith, a one-time Progressive Labour Party candidate accused of assaulting a tenant.

Mr. Warner found Mr. Smith guilty after a short trial but bound him over on good behaviour for one year.

An unpublished inquiry by a British Queen's Counsel stated there was `no evidence' the process was manipulated for political reasons, but concluded the case was "not handled in the customary way''.

"A lot of money was spent to tell you nothing untoward happened,'' Dame Lois said yesterday. "None of the allegations were proven. You even had a Magistrate saying things about something appeared to have happened (in the Rodney Smith case). He should shut his mouth! "How awful. Somebody interfered because the prosecutors wanted an adjournment?'' she added.

Dame Lois was attempting to clarify her role as the Attorney General saying her party had long supported the separation of functions of Attorney General -- an advisor to Government and the government office for civil matters -- and the prosecution of criminal cases.

Dame Lois said she demanded a physical separation of the two offices immediately after the changes went into effect last year to avoid the suggestion of influence.

And she said it was her duty as AG to advise the Premier on any issue, if asked, adding: "The Premier asked me to look into the pyramid schemes.

"And then I see not the acting DPP Mr. Pierce, or even the principal crown counsel Mr. Calhoun, but a junior prosecutor on TV giving his opinion. I couldn't go to Canada and say such things about the Prime Minister.'' Dame Lois added: "Somebody would be put out of the country. A country that doesn't make too many black people welcome anyway.'' She reserved indignation for her shadow, John Barritt who had written articles condemning the controversies.

"I have heard lawyers saying they couldn't believe John Barritt saying those things,'' Dame Lois said. "It's so many assumptions -- has he read the Constitution? "I don't know if it's racial hatred to impute that something improper happened. But I feel let down by someone that a Bermudian who people respect to follow that path... I'm glad to see something by Ian Kawaley today.

"All this challenges my character. Most people would say they respect me even if they don't' like me. In my last years on this floor I don't intend to take this laying down.'' More House coverage, see Page 4 Magistrate `should have shut his mouth,' says Dame Lois Saying that under Government's run by her party important trips abroad were reported to the House of Assembly within a week, United Bermuda Party leader Pamela Gordon said she had "concerns'' Bermudians had not been told what had been discussed in meetings in London this week.

"On this issue of accountability it is our right to expect that a government would give some indication that is official, not what we see in the Royal Gazette ,'' she said during the Motion to Adjourn.

She said such issues as the decision making on the pyramid scheme issue and the decision making behind siting 20 percent of low cost housing in St.

David's warrant explanation.

"They're keeping everything close to their chests,'' Ms Gordon said. "On the pyramid scheme controversy, we believe the onus of responsibility is on the Government to indicate the separation of powers between the prosecutors and the Attorney General.

"We believe there was a lack of consultation over the siting of the housing in St. David's. When you have a member (of the House) who sits in that district being given the contract and never bothering to inform those people until after the fact, that's a lack of consultation.'' Ms Gordon added: "Government can pooh pooh this all they like, but the fact remains the people need to be consulted. And we would be remiss if we did not point it out. All that is needed is basic consultation.'' Mr. Barritt said he thought it was "un-nessesary'' for Dame Lois to bring race into the fight and said he will continue to question whether the AG's opinion might influence the DPP.

"I wonder where we are going with this?'' he asked. "Does that opinion get shared with the DPP? There is a very real possibility that the DPP will persuaded by the person who has the power.'' "And as for the Magistrate, when you have him saying something doesn't seem right and the AG is saying shut his mouth, it's their position, for judges and magistrates on the bench to do that.

"It's so things do not slip by. Surely there is some concern when prosecutors don't want to take a case to court.'' Dame Lois Browne Evans