temporary closing of Dellwood school last week due to contruction problems.

Speaking on the Motion to Adjourn, Shado Tourism Minister David Allen said he would have expected at the least a Ministerial statement over the disruption of studies at the school by workmen.

He said: "Nothing takes precedence over the education of young people and they can't afford to lose one day of their education.

"It shows an incredible, almost mind-boggling, situation where you can have a lack of consultation between the Ministry of Works and Engineering and the Education Ministry.'' And he called for a public apology from both Ministers involved.

Shadow Environment Minister Leon (Jimmy) Williams referred to a story in The Royal Gazette about ousted Government vet Dr. Susann Smith, who failed a US multiple choice test on several occasions, landing a post in Jamaica.

Mr. Williams said: "This is rather disturbing to me because I have heard of so many Bermudians who have been ousted and landed somewhere else.'' He added: "If we want Bermudians to look up to Bermudians.. ..say `I want to achieve like that individual', the only way that is going to happen is that we as Bermudians have to be honest.'' Mr. Williams moved on to controversy surrounding alleged dangers to free speech after claims of threats to radio talk show hosts.

He said: "When someone tries to hinder these rights we as Parliamentarians -- Parliament is supreme -- we should be the first to jump up and defend them.'' Shadow Health and Social Services Minister Renee Webb referred to Labour and Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness and his appearance in court on behalf of an accused.

She claimed Mr. Edness had admitted that rehabilitation in the prisons was not working as he asked for non-custodial sentence for the man.

Ms Webb said: "Rehabilitation in our prison system, in our prison service, is non-existent.'' She said a prisoner cost around $40,000 a year -- far more than was spent on educating a child -- and that was wasted without proper programmes to cut the likelihood of re-offending.

And she said Dr. Smith may have had difficulty with the multiple choice exam format -- as she had had herself while a student.

She added: "I don't know if this was the case with Dr. Smith, but surely after four years somebody could assess her and see if she was competent or if it was a problem with multiple choice tests.'' Opposition Leader Jennifer Smith took issue with an editorial in the Mid-Ocean News in connection with last week's sitting of the House.

She said the newspaper had accused the PLP of wanting to meet Bermudians' expectations by lowering standards.

But she insisted: "No-one on this side made such a statement last week.'' She added that the PLP position was that, before someone was dumped, every effort should be made to find out if there was a particular problem -- for example, with the test format.'' And Ms Smith claimed it was the Opposition which had been pushing for recognised trades qualifications to cut down on cowboy operators setting themselves up as tradesmen then botching jobs.

And she added that closing down Dellwood school could have caused problems with childcare for single parents -- of which there were many.

She said there should have been supervised care in another venue, like Cathedral Hall, for the rest of day to cut down on the risk of youngsters being left alone.

Premier Pamela Gordon told the House that anyone issuing threats to talk show hosts should be reported to the Police.

On the Dellwood problem, she said most of the schools involved in restructuring the education system were very old. She said a water pipe had been hit and caused unexpected problems.

Ms Gordon added that the school principal Dale Butler had made a public statement that the authorities were aware of the problems which could be caused with childcare.

She said the children had been kept within the school for as long as possible to cut down the risk of children being at home early and unsupervised.

Ms Gordon added: "The unexpected did happen and it was resolved to the extent the principal came out and made a statement that he was satisfied.'' Ms Gordon said Government had received a petition concerning Dr. Smith, which had been passed to the Secretary to the Cabinet.

She said she felt constrained from commenting further until the petition had been examined.

With regard to recognised trades qualifications, Ms Gordon said that new requirements for apprenticeship and training would hopefully cut out the cowboys.

She added: "I certainly hope we will get the support of the Opposition for that as well.''