candy products, Maltesers, will be readily available again in local stores before Christmas.

And it's all thanks to local wholesaler Winter-Cookson, Petty (to give it its new name), with a worthy assist by The Royal Gazette's Business section.

For almost two years now, Maltesers have been virtually impossible to buy in Bermuda. The same goes for certain other products made by Mars, such as Minstrels, Revels and Opal Fruits.

Not because people stopped buying them, mark you, for Maltesers have been a much-sought after item in Bermuda for many-a-year.

The reason the supply suddenly dried up was because of a policy change by Mars executives.

They told Winter-Cookson, Petty to stop importing Mars products from an overworked manufacturer in the UK and take them instead from an outlet in the Netherlands.

The problem was, the Dutch manufacturer did not make Maltesers, Opal Fruits, Minstrels and Revels, which are manufactured exclusively for the British market.

As a result, virtually every candy store from St. David's to Somerset stopped selling them, with only a few, such as the Hamilton Pharmacy, going to the trouble and extra expense of buying direct from a wholesaler in the UK.

The plight of the Malteser addict was highlighted in this newspaper's Business section many months ago and Winter-Cookson, Petty's chairman Mr. Lou Petty sent a copy of the report to Mars' international headquarters in Puerto Rico.

It took a long time, but the decision was finally reversed and large consignments of Maltesers and other favourites are scheduled to return to Bermuda next Monday. They will be available in local stores a few days after that.

"This is great news,'' said Mr. Petty. "It's amazing what a little bit of public reaction can do.

"The chaps in Puerto Rico sat up and took notice when they realised that many Bermudians were missing their favourite treat. Of course, they also realised that there was money to be made.'' Management at the Hamilton Pharmacy greeted the news with relief. "It will save us a lot of bother,'' said a spokesman. "We'll certainly be buying them again from Winter-Cookson, Petty. It's easier and cheaper.'' *** LAST week, the Business Diary promised to try to interview would-be Nigerian trickster Chief Elo Jomoni, who wrote to a local law firm offering a dodgy business deal which allegedly could net millions of dollars to all concerned.

Unfortunately, not only is the Chief virtually illiterate in his use of the English Language (you may remember him stating the scheme was "foul-proof'' and "all we require from you is strick confidence ... to see that we achieve this rear goal'') but he also appears to be innumerate.

The ten-digit telephone number he gave in his letter does not belong to him.

Several times the Business Diary dialled it (allowing for possible mis-routeing by the Nigerian telephone company) and, on each occasion, the calls were greeted by a woman speaking little English who said she had never heard of anyone by the name of Chief Elo Jomoni.

This firmly puts the Nigerian in the running for the title of the world's worst con man, since he has no way of profiting from his illegal scheme. If someone was daft or greedy enough to take him up on his offer, they could not reach him.

*** THE Bank of Bermuda raised a few heads when it announced it was closing down personal banking services at its airport branch. What is the point of having a branch there if travellers can't buy foreign currency, asked some customers.

But customers can count themselves lucky that there's a branch left at all, even though its doors are currently closed to the public and only commercial transactions are now allowed.

"We looked at the airport branch and it was very costly to run,'' said Ms Charlene Asphall, deputy manager of retail banking. "At one point we were looking at closing it altogether.'' It seems that only strong lobbying from the branch's main commercial customers -- the airlines and US customs -- prevented a total shutdown.

There is some hope, though, for the absent-minded traveller who suddenly remembers a few minutes before stepping onto a plane that he has no US dollars or UK sterling.

"If we had a customer who was really strapped for foreign currency, we could make special arrangements with the branch,'' said Ms Asphall.