With just two bills passed and a

two-hour motion to adjourn, yesterday's House of Assembly session ended relatively early - and left the United Bermuda Party (UBP) fuming.

Much of the morning was taken up in Ministerial statements and congratulatory speeches with a number of welcoming remarks for new MP Ashfield DeVent, who entered the House after winning Tuesday's Pembroke East Central by-election.

Premier Jennifer Smith asked for five bills to be carried over after non-contentious discussion of the Chiropractors Act and the Merchant Shipping Act.

At the Motion to Adjourn, the ongoing debate on economic empowerment for previously excluded groups went quickly into full swing and through the lunch period when Speaker Stanley Lowe let it be known that they had agreed to end the sitting at two o'clock.

The problem, for the UBP, was that they had no idea the sitting was going to be concluded early. "We did not know anything about it as far as I'm aware and we were very much surprised. No one on our side was aware of the fact that there had been any discussions on closing the House early," said Deputy Leader Erwin Adderley.

The annual Speaker's Dinner which took place last night at the Fairmont Southampton Princess Hotel was his best guess as to why the sitting ended early.

"It normally takes place in the middle of the week when there's no session," said Mr. Adderley. "Normally you can have an agreement for all sorts of things, for example when there's a death and people schedule time accordingly. But we were not aware of any agreement and I haven't heard a reason. We are speculating it was because of the Speaker's Dinner and the agenda was light for that reason."

He added that about three more people were scheduled to speak on his side of the aisle.

"It came as a surprise to us because we had a line-up of who was going to speak. It was around 1.30 that we knew we would be closing early. Government business had been completed and there were several things that we wanted to discuss."

Ruling party whip Ottiwell Simmons could not be reached for comment by presstime last night.