Gavin Arton continued to rain down on Friday as Transport Minister the Hon.

Maxwell Burgess lashed out at his "sad'' and "regrettable'' comments.

"I find it regrettable and sad that in a speech to such an eminent group of people a person of Mr. Arton's reported stature would have made references to rastafarians taking over the Airport and Ganja Airlines,'' he said.

"I can only take solace and comfort in the fact that most business people do not feel that way. I would think Mr. Arton owes the people of Bermuda an apology.'' Mr. Arton, a senior executive at EXEL Ltd., told an insurance industry luncheon on Wednesday that "the international business sector needs to be more active'' in Airport management and that "this place dries up'' if the US Navy pulls out and there is no "proper'' control tower capability.

He also warned against "rastafarians'' taking over the tower once the Airport reverts to Bermudian hands.

"He's out of the loop,'' Mr. Burgess said. "It's clear that he's been abroad for an extended period of time. Had he been here he would know that the people of Bermuda have been thoroughly briefed on how we're handling the Airport takeover.

"His extended absence may cause him not to realise that Government has been vetting contracts with a view to letting a competent and capable international business assist us in operating the Airport.'' Bermudian-born Mr. Arton recently returned to the Island after living and working in Philadelphia.

On Wednesday he asked: "Why do all airplanes seem to arrive between 12 noon and 2.00 in the afternoon? Why can't we have a schedule that can get business people in and out of here in less than three days?'' Responded Mr. Burgess: "The question of airplane arrivals has been a long-standing question, but Mr. Arton would have known had he asked that the question of scheduling is subject to the international airlines.

"His reference to getting business people in and out of here in three days is unclear. I don't know what he means by that. We already have an airline that departs the Island at 7.00 in the morning and also later in the day.'' As for Mr. Arton's derision of Government for heading "south to visit Caribbean airports for input on how we want to style our air traffic control, transportation and facilities/capabilities,'' the Minister stressed that many of the islands in the region shared a common experience with Bermuda.

He also said the Airport transition team visited numerous airport facilities outside the Caribbean.

"What we attempted to do (in the Caribbean) was look to the experiences of comparable airports and check with people who faced somewhat similar challenges.'' Added to Mr. Burgess' negative reaction on Friday was the more moderate tone of Bermuda Association of Securities Dealers chairman Mr. Robert Pires.

His one criticism was directed at Mr. Arton's comments on the "casual cocktail party conversation'' he has allegedly had about "stock parking incidents, insider trading transactions and promises of unrealistic investment returns.'' "I'm concerned that these claims have not already been made to the Association,'' Mr. Pires said. "We are a self-regulating group and if any of our members were involved in activities like this we would want to know about it. I don't believe they are. If they were, I would not be a member.'' Even so, he added: "I think Mr. Arton's concerns are valid. They are the same concerns we've had at the Association. In the past, we've worked with the Ministry of Finance and the Bermuda Monetary Authority to develop some sort of framework for regulating local investment companies.'' Earlier this week, Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge and Mr.

Stephen Barker of the Bermuda Hotel Association also took issue with Mr.

Arton's comments on tourism.