after the liner Dreamward was forced to bypass the East End because of high winds.

And Mayor the Wor. Henry Hayward said he supported the idea, but noted it would cost millions of dollars which the Corporation and Government did not have.

Cutting into Horseshoe Island and the rocky cliffs opposite would involve massive dredging of Town Cut channel and possibly blasting.

But Ms Lois Perinchief said: "Evidently the trend now is for bigger ships so we are going to have to make the channel able to accommodate them, and if that means widening Town Cut then that's what we will have to do. We just can't go on this way every time there's a little bit of breeze.'' Certain cruise ships, including Dreamward and Horizon are barred from entering St. George's Harbour if the wind is blowing harder than 18 knots.

Meanwhile, PLP candidate Mr. Leon (Jimmy) Williams lambasted Government for creating a bigger mess on the cruise ship scene in its attempt to work around a restrictive policy.

He said a number of merchants had already contacted him to voice concerns that a liner had bypassed St. George's this early in the season.

Mr. Williams charged Tourism officials with "mismanagement and a lack of foresight'' when they drew up the controversial policy several years ago.

Pressure from the business community caused Tourism officials last year to relax the policy, which contractually limits the number of cruise ships to five until 1994.

Faced with declining air arrivals, Government gave approval to two shipping lines serving Bermuda to send bigger ships capable of larger passenger loads.

But Mr. Williams said the replacement of the Westward and Nordic Prince with the Dreamward and Song of America was "working to the detriment of St.

George's''.

Mr. Hayward said while the two larger ships certainly benefited Hamilton, they compounded the problem for St. George's with the likelihood of more missed visits.

Song of America , at 703 feet, is now the largest of the five regular-calling cruise liners scheduled for 1993.

The East End was bypassed several times by the 682-foot Horizon during the last two years because of a Marine and Ports restriction forbidding ships to enter St. George's if winds exceed 18 knots.

Mr. Williams added the missed visit, the first of the 1993 season -- it was Dreamward's third visit to the Island -- underscored the need for the Old Town to have its own ship.

Ms Perinchief agreed, saying a missed visit was a financial loss to East End merchants as well as the Corporation of St. George's, which misses out on docking fees.

"For the town to survive Government needs to investigate how to make it possible for ships to come into St. George's every time,'' she said. "It's not fair for all the business to be centred in Hamilton.

"If Government's not going to do anything about the problem then they are going to have to help us out financially. We can't put on entertainment and promote St. George's if we don't have the money because we aren't getting the business.'' St. George's was promised a ship of its own in 1994, when the cruise policy allows a sixth ship.

The only cruise lines that have expressed serious interest in sending a ship are Costa Cruise Lines and Carnival, but Mr. Hayward believes the ship the latter proposes to send is too large to pass through Town Cut in all weather and its size could overstrain the Old Town.

Shopkeepers told The Royal Gazette last week that business was so bad they would welcome any ship -- including Carnival's "fun ship'' Tropicale -- as long as it had no trouble sailing through Town Cut channel in bad weather.