pockets to clean up droppings -- rather than use special horse diapers.

Mr. Norman Terceira said he and other carriage owners had each agreed to fork out $10 a week to pay someone to clean up after them throughout the day and night.

But he said the problem could have been solved if the Department of Agriculture had taken steps to force buggy owners to feed their horses the correct food.

"You should see what some of them are feeding those horses -- bread and cow feed!,'' he said. "A horse can't take that. It goes straight through him.'' Mr. Terceira said the Corporation of Hamilton had agreed to allow the carriage owners to hire a street cleaner as an alternative to diapers.

Someone had already been hired for the job, he said. But he had been "hearing stories that he was not doing it properly''. "If he doesn't do it right we will replace him with someone else,'' he said.

There was no one solely responsible for shoveling up the horse droppings last summer, Mr. Terceira pointed out.

A Corporation of Hamilton street sweeper would only do the job once or twice a day -- if that, he said, accusing the worker of being "lazy''.

Carriage drivers were against using horse diapers because of the smell they would create -- especially in Bermuda's humid climate -- and the flies they would attract.

Mr. Terceira added that he felt the carriage owners had been unfairly targeted.

No one complained about dogs defecating in Hamilton, he said. And carriage rides were one of Bermuda's "biggest tourist attractions''.

The Corporation had committed itself to solving the problem last summer following an accident, numerous complaints from the public and Opposition claims the droppings presented a health hazard.

Corporation Secretary Mr. Roger Sherratt announced at the end of last summer that a law had been drafted making it mandatory for horses to wear diapers while pulling carriages through Hamilton.

But the Corporation was wary of putting it into effect because of opposition from carriage owners.

It has since been meetings with them to come up with an alternative way of solving the problem.

Mr. Sherratt told The Royal Gazette the Corporation would make an official statement on the issue this week.