according to Shadow Environment Minister Mr. Julian Hall.

Mr. Hall says some candidates fighting marginal seats are particular targets for slurs some of which he says he can prove come from the United Bermuda Party.

Rumours involve allegations of eviction from businesses, bankruptcy, theft from institutions, homosexuality and involvement in drugs.

But during the noisy adjournment debate late Wednesday night Government ministers in the House of Assembly hit back stating that the PLP had been involved in dirty tricks for years.

Mr. Hall originally mentioned an editorial in The Royal Gazette which had described an attack on Health Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness.

He was annoyed that the newspaper had apparently been told about the PLP rumours some time ago but chose, he said, only to mention slurs when they involved the UBP.

But Mr. Hall said: "It concerned rumours allegedly circulating about Mr.

Edness which I certainly had not heard. He has my sympathy and my empathy because I have a real experience about what it is all about.

"In the last couple of months in the run up to the election there has been a proliferation of nasty rumours about PLP candidates. Frankly I have not heard one negative rumour that has touched upon a Government candidate or a Government politician. There are all kinds of rumours about the Opposition.'' Mr. Hall said: "People must realise that when you hurt a person's reputation in this way you can cause untold injury well beyond what you are trying to achieve in a political sphere. It can hurt families, children and parents.'' The rumours, he said, are aimed at undermining the credibility and reputation of PLP candidates in marginal constituencies.

Mr. Hall added that he had investigated the rumours. He said: "I have clear evidence of the involvement of UBP branch members and branch officers in the proliferation of rumours about me. Are the UBP leadership in a position to disavow this? I believe they are fully aware of it.

"I would like to believe that not one member of the PLP has been instrumental in the spreading of one rumour about the UBP.'' Mr. Hall asked for an end to the campaign which he said: "Is getting nasty, ugly, harmful and hurtful.'' Mr. Edness said that he had not been the subject of rumours but he was annoyed at an article in the Bermuda Times.

But the Minister said: "I have to tell you that all of us on this side of the House do not engage in rumours.

"It is a terrible thing to hear malicious rumours about you. It can destroy you especially in a small country like this.

"I am talking about insidious rumours that have destroyed the reputations of some wonderful people.

"Personally I do not agree with it. We do not need it in the political arena.

If there is evidence that it has been happening it must be stamped out.'' Opposition leader Mr. Freddie Wade said that he was distressed at claims that the PLP was against the National Drugs Commission.

But Mr. Wade said he had been sent a letter, not a rumour, alleging his opposition to the Commission and saying that he would like "people to die of drugs and AIDS.'' He said that personality attacks is a game that no-one should play and Bermuda should not lower itself to the level of politics in the United States.

The recent comments reported in The Royal Gazette regarding the debate over the National Drugs Commission have annoyed Opposition members.

Shadow Minister of Education Ms Jennifer Smith said: "When I read or hear the comment that this party does not support the fight against drugs I do not deign to answer it.

"There is nobody in this room who has not been touched by drugs in some way.

No human being with human emotions is against the fight against drugs.'' Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul accused the PLP of misleading Parliament with "half truths.'' Dr. Saul said Mr. Hall was a "mischief maker, who often engages his mouth before his brain.'' He said: "The people of Bermuda can trust the United Bermuda Party which is competent in the job and experienced in Government.''