you want to see an attractive return, but it would be difficult to beat the returns which the Bermuda Stock Exchange has offered for the entirety of its history.

Someone who invested in the Index-linked stocks on the Bermuda Stock Exchange when it was formed in 1972 would have earned a massive 1,501.14 percent return on their investment, according to Mr. James McKirdy, an investment officer with the Bank of Bermuda. That represents a compounded interest rate of 13.77 per annum.

The calculation is made on the basis that an initial annual dividend yield of five percent is paid out, that the dividends grow at 7.5 percent per annum, and that the dividends are then reinvested in cash deposits, earning seven percent interest compounded quarterly, to give a return of 7.25 percent per annum on reinvested dividends, which McKirdy said is probably a conservative figure. An adjustment has been made for the reindexing of the Exchange.

If dividends were reinvested in stocks or other investment vehicles then the return would have been even higher, said Mr. McKirdy.

The Exchange returns over the last decade are equally impressive. A total of $10,000 invested in December, 1982, in index-linked companies would have been worth $42,000 by December, 1992.

That amounts to a total growth rate of 321 percent, or an annual compounded rate of 15.47 percent.

The old Exchange Index was linked to the Bank of Bermuda, the Bank of Butterfield, Belco, Telco, Bermuda Press (Holdings), Island Press, Masters, Argus Insurance and Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance. Since February, the Index has been linked to all of the local companies listed on the Exchange.

Possibly the most impressive performance on the Exchange is that of the Bank of Bermuda which has turned its early investors or dependents into modern-day millionaires, provided they did not sell their stock.

A sum of 50 (the then equivalent of US$250) for one share in the bank when it was formed in 1889 would now be worth between $1.4 and $1.6 million "easily'', according to Mr. McKirdy.

Again, the calculation is made using the same criteria for initial dividend yield, growth and reinvestment in cash deposits and on the basis that the shareholder took advantage of all rights issues open to him or her.

*** AN association of lawyers in Pennsylvania has banned Miller brand beers from its annual meeting because of a television commercial for Miller Lite that features a rodeo where lawyers get lassoed.

The Luzerne County Bar Association said it has asked the Irem Temple Country Club in Dallas to serve Coors brand beers at its party to protest the Miller Brewing Company's attempt to capitalise on lawyer bashing.

Miller spokesman Mr. Eric Kraus said the commercial is not intended as an attack on lawyers. Miller Brewing is a Milwaukee-based subsidiary of Philip Morris Companies, Inc.

*** ONE in every 15 workers was injured on the job in a one-year period, with back and hand injuries among the most common problems, a federal health survey found, according to the National Centre for Health Statistics in United States.

Almost one in five workers suffered a week or more of back pain in the previous year, and 22 percent had trouble with their hands, including carpal tunnel syndrome.

The figures were drawn from a 1988 survey of 44,233 adults. Unlike past government surveys, it analysed workplace injuries by age, sex, race and education, not just by industry.

The survey also found: Men were almost twice as likely as women to be injured on the job.

More than seven percent of workers experienced one or more on-the-job injuries in the preceding year. Thirteen percent of blue-collar workers reported such injuries.

Twenty-two percent suffered hand, wrist or finger injuries; 18 percent injured their backs.

The most common injuries were strains or sprains (28 percent); cuts or punctures (21 percent), and contusions or abrasions (13 percent).