Attorney General Dame Lois Browne Evans lead off yesterday's session of the House of Assembly with a 15 minute history lesson and critique of the Island's media before discussing the Ministry of Legislative Affairs.

Dame Lois started to discuss the four heads allocated to her Ministry and said it gave her great pleasure that the ministry had been expanded to include the Judiciary, the House of Assembly, and Senate.

She explained briefly why these areas had been consolidated into her ministry, and then moved completely away from discussing the matter at hand and started commenting on past reports in the media about the behaviour of politicians in the House and the example they are setting for the Island's youth.

Dame Lois said that if one were to visit Parliaments in other Commonwealth countries, Bermuda's rowdiness would pale in comparison.

She also said that she had been in the House since 1963 and the behaviour now was no better or worse than in past years.

During her reminiscing, Shadow Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister, Michael Dunkley said that head 19 (Archives) had already been discussed, and pointed this out to a member of the press, prompting Dame Lois to criticise Mr. Dunkley for talking to the press.

She then mentioned The Royal Gazette report charging that House Speaker Stanley Lowe was a "puppet'' and said: "This makes me wonder, we should take a vote of confidence in the Speaker.'' But no one on either side of the House responded to her call.

Calls to discuss the heads were repeatedly made by the Opposition, and after the history lesson and media bashing subsided, Dame Lois spoke about her Ministry.

The Attorney General said spending for her ministry was as usual, and said head two (Legislature) had already been done and moved quickly onto head three, the Judiciary.

Dame Lois said there was quite a bit of development in this department last year, and that one of the aims for the courts was to save the judges from writer's cramp.

She said for years they have had to write every bit of evidence down, and she even mentioned a judge that had been mentally ill and not written notes of proceedings.

Dame Lois said: "Government will see to it that judges are competent and able,'' and said they would be paid appropriately for their services.

And she said that there was currently a review for a compensation survey to investigate the difference in salary between the public and private sector.

Dame Lois added: "We hope this year that there will be one new judge, and we hope it will be a Bermudian,'' and she asked for the Shadow Minister's support on this issue.

She also said Government expected to hire two new judges for the Court of Appeals, adding the courts would be updated with the latest technology, including cameras, to help in the accuracy of recording of evidence and help judges and lawyers to play back evidence that had already been heard.

Dame Lois also said work had started on the promised new building to house the new Police station and courts and she said a building had been imploded last week to start the project.

And she said: "Maybe soon we will have a building for the Attorney General and the Senate,'' which currently meets in the Cabinet building.

Dame Lois then moved on to head four, the Attorney General's Chambers and explained that the office was open to anyone to come and have legislation drafted, but to date no requests had been made.

She also explained that the six drafters currently employed in the office did tremendous work, but she was extremely unhappy that only one of them was a Bermudian.

She said: "drafters are a special breed and are scarce.'' She said they sit and compare legislation from different jurisdictions and draw up new legislation for the Island.

"They are worth their weight in gold,'' she said.

Dame Lois also said that the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was currently under the Attorney General's head, but in the future, a separate head would be created for the DPP to show that the AG had nothing to do with the department.

Dame Lois said that the separating of the AG and DPP had been provided for in the last Constitutional conference in 1978, but it had not been implemented by the previous Governments.

Dame Lois briefly discussed the Ministry of Legislative Affairs and said it was the smallest ministry, employing just one person, but it was money well spent.

Shadow Minister of Legislative Affairs, John Barritt then took the floor and commented briefly on Dame Lois's history lesson and remarks about members conduct in the house, and said he considers himself as much an offender as anyone else.

He said it was indeed part of the tradition of politics and mentioned the "cut and thrust'' of political debate in the House.

He said however, that a letter to the Editor in yesterday's paper summed up the position perfectly by saying: "I would much rather see a sermon than hear one.'' Practice what you preach was the message, and he said he would leave it at that.

Mr. Barritt then discussed the department of legislative affairs and said $3 million had been allocated to the department, of which $2.3 million was for salaries.

Mr. Barritt said this was a two-percent increase from last year and this adjustment was made according to the cost of living index.

The only complaint Mr. Barritt had was that Government did not make the same increase for seniors.

Mr. Barritt also questioned how it was decided which radio station would broadcast coverage of the House and asked if it was put out to tender or whether it changed each year.

And he questioned whether it would be possible to charge broadcast companies to air their "games'' or live debates, rather than pay over $50,000 of taxpayer money.

Mr. Barritt asked if the House of Assembly could be modernised and outlets provided for members to use computers while inside. He said they would then be able to do work in the House rather than rely on masses of paper.

In respect of the Judiciary, Mr. Barritt said that the amount provisioned for criminal injury awards had increased considerably from $433,000 in the 1999/00 budget to $675,000 in the current budget, and he questioned whether this was indicative of the quantity of crime and the sorts of injuries people are sustaining.

Mr. Barritt also pointed out that according to the latest Budget, the Senior Magistrate makes less than the Senior Crown Counsel, ($102,725) and the same as a regular Crown Counsel ($98,297) Mr. Barritt said: "Tell me this is an error. If it's not, correct it,'' and he said he was all in favour of having a review of salaries.

Mr. Barritt also pointed out that the provision for legal aid had increased by $7,000 up to $987,000, and asked if this was another indication of a rising crime rate.

Turning to revenue, Mr. Barritt said that the Minister had estimated that $2.4 million would be raised from traffic violations, up from $1 million in 1999/00.

He said this figure also revealed something about the state of play on the Islands roads.

Mr. Barritt also asked how much of this money remained unpaid due to offenders asking for time to pay and then disappearing.

Mr. Barritt also criticised Government for letting the Report on the Commission of Inquiry into Serious Crimes in Bermuda languish after being tabled by backbencher Wayne Perincheif .

Mr. Barritt was amazed that it had been tabled by a backbencher and said there were many key recommendations in the report and said the lack of debate showed a sore absence of leadership.

He said: "This report is not collecting dust, it has been put right under the carpet.'' And Mr. Barritt said this was a repeat of the pyramid schemes fiasco where a report was promised, but never materialised.

Dame Lois Browne Evans briefly responded to some of Mr. Barritt's questions before time allocated for the debate ran out.

Heads two, three, four and 62 were then passed and the House adjourned for lunch.

Dame Lois Brown Evans John Barritt