to the public.

Spokesman Lt. Jon Thomson said yesterday that at 8.59 p.m. on Monday, two appliances responded to the report of a structural fire at Aldie Drive in Devonshire.

There they discovered a bundle of smouldering rags in the garage which were promptly doused with water.

Lt. Thomson said workmen had been at the residence earlier in the day and had used the rags to apply stain to a cabinet.

This stain - like many others -- was prone to spontaneous combustion and had caused the rags to ignite.

Lt. Thomson urged people to put used rags containing unstable oils in a bucket of water.

The unstable oils decompose and give off heat in the process, he continued, and this could cause the rags to self-ignite.

Read the labels on tins, said Lt. Thomson, to see if they are liable to either self-heat or self-ignite. Even if the tin says throw the rag away, he added, dunk it in a bucket of water first.

MAN ADMITS CHARGE CTS Man admits charge A 46-year-old Sandys Parish man pleaded guilty to one charge of sexually exploiting a young person and will be sentenced next month.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in Magistrates' Court on Monday where he entered his guilty plea to one charge of sexually exploitation of a young person by a person in a position of trust.

The offences occured between July, 1987 and December, 1992.

Crown counsel Leighton Rochester appeared for the prosecution while Kim Wilson appeared for the accused man.

A social inquiry report was ordered. The man was released on $5,000 bail with a surety and will be sentenced on June 30.

PASSENGERS TAKE BAG CRM Passengers take bag A couple who gave a car ride to three youths ended up regretting their good deed on Sunday.

The wife told Police that at around 11.15 p.m. on Sunday, she and her husband were asked for a lift by the youths as they left the Mount Restaurant in St.

David's.

The couple obliged, dropping one youth at the former US Naval Air Station's main gate and the other two at Harlem Heights in Bailey's Bay.

When the couple arrived home the woman discovered that her handbag -- which had been placed between the two front seats -- had been removed.

ISLAND LOSES POWER BUC Island loses power Smith's Island residents were left without electricity over the weekend as Bermuda Electric Light Company crews raced to repair damage caused by lightning.

As of Sunday night, temporary power had been supplied to the nine homes on the island, said Belco spokesman Greg Engel.

He told The Royal Gazette yesterday that crews were immediately sent to the scene when the damage occurred during Thursday's storm.

They were forced to work until Sunday as a lightning strike had damaged an underground cable creating difficulty in finding exactly where the fault was.

IMPAIRED RIDER FINED CTS Impaired rider fined A 46-year-old man was stopped by Police after they spotted him swerving from side to side on his motorbike.

Adbon Ollivierre, of Derwent Lane, Devonshire, was seen by Police driving his motorbike on April 12 on Parsons Road, Magistrate's Court heard.

Yesterday Ollivierre pleaded guilty to driving while impaired and was fined $450 and disqualified from driving all vehicles for 12 months by Senior Magistrate Will Francis.

Sgt. Phil Taylor, prosecuting, said when the officers stopped Ollivierre, they saw his eyes were glazed, his breath smelled and his speech was slurred.'' POLICE PROBE ROBBERY CRM Police probe robbery Police are investigating a report of a robbery which allegedly occurred in Pembroke early yesterday morning.

A 25-year-old man said he was on Glebe Road talking to a man he knew at around 4 a.m. He told Police that the man suddenly pushed him to the ground and removed cash from his pocket.