A massive 25 percent increase in spending for the Ministry of Finance nervecentre was yesterday blasted by Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons .

And he said -- when Finance Minister Eugene Cox had called for across-the-board cuts of five percent in Ministerial budgets -- his own office should have led from the front.

Dr. Gibbons added that travel spending by the Ministry had rocketed -- although Mr. Cox insisted that, instead of central travel spending, Ministries now accounted for their own travel money, so the $71,000 allocated for travel in the coming financial year was a transfer rather than a huge increase.

The Shadow Minister added he had been told Mr. Cox had flown first class, rather than business class, to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Dr.

Gibbons said first class was "a six thousand dollar ticket.'' And he added: "To have him go first class when the policy is business class, especially when five percent Budget cuts are in place, it seems a little bit implausible.'' He added: "Had there been a real effort to get a five percent saving, we would have had a closer look at travelling expenses in the Ministry of Finance as well.'' But former senior Finance Ministry official Delaey Robinson , now a Government MP, accused Dr. Gibbons of nit-picking. Mr. Robinson said: "This is hardly a significant thing -- it seemed more like a domestic conversation over this week's household budget.'' And he added: "If you look at that increase and compare it to the total budget, I would just hope that the former Minister would come to this House with relevant issues rather than virtual red herrings.'' But Shadow Development and Opportunity Minister Allan Marshall hit back: "I don't care if it's $3000 or $30,000 -- it's taxpayers' money and it's not a small item by any stretch of the imagination.'' And Dr. Gibbons said an "advertorial'' on Bermuda carried in Time magazine in the US was seen "as a total waste of money'' -- and asked Mr. Cox to account for the cost.

Mr. Cox said the advert cost $300,000 -- but that the Ministry had only paid $100,000 of the total figure. And he accused the Opposition of resorting to "scaremongering'' tactics in recent times.

But Dr. Gibbons repeated claims that Government would have to pay around $11 million in interest -- equivalent to the Youth and Sport budget -- because it had failed to heed advice on refinancing of loans.

He added: "We could probably have got rid of the entire increase in Land Tax if the Minister had followed prudent advice.'' But Mr. Cox insisted there was the issue of penalty clauses with refinancing -- and interest rates changes could end up costing Government even more to borrow.

Dr. Gibbons said that information on the multi-million sweetener to potential developers at the old Marriott Castle Harbour and guarantees to the Bermuda Housing Corporation to help with the cost of 100 houses should have been included in a review of Government debt. He added: "I'm very disappointed he didn't say anything about the Housing Corporation or Castle Harbour because these two things do come under Government debt.'' And Dr. Gibbons said that more pressure should be put on the Crown prosecution service to get them to follow up on Tax Commissioner's reports on "delinquent tax payers.'' He added that statistics which showed a massive jump in new jobs over the current year could be because firms were being more meticulous in filling in forms than they had been.

He said: "It would be very useful if we could use the Tax Commissioner's quarterly data on some of these jobs to try and get a check on this employment survey. Dr. Gibbons also called on Government to release an independent review of the Island's tax structure, handed over by overseas experts in August, 1998.

He said: "It's quite a useful document because it gave a very objective third party view and made some recommendations.'' Dr. Gibbons had said Government had promised to release the document -- along with a position paper on the review.

And he asked for joint retail/Finance Ministry working groups to be set up to examine the currrent tax structure and ways of easing the up-front taxation burden on the sector. Dr. Gibbons asked if the superannuation fund -- the civil service pension pot of cash -- was showing "a discrepancy'' between the money taken out and contributions going in.

Mr. Cox said the former Government had dipped into the cash in advance of the 1990s time set -- so the funds had not grown to the level originally envisaged.

And he added that measures would be taken to "make up that unfunded liability which is creeping up on us.'' Ministry of Finance 2000/01 estimates Ministry responsibility: To supervise the economy of Bermuda generally and to provide overall financial management and control of all Government activities.

Budget estimate: $77,978,000 (last year $72,911,000) Revenue: $507,268,000 Budget allocations Ministry of Finance HQ $2,996,000 Accountant General $31,330,000 Customs $8,799,000 Post Office $9,954,000 Statistics $3,125,000 Social Insurance $1,140,000 Office of the Tax Commissioner $1,593,000 Registrar of Companies $4,291,000 Interest on debt $11,500,000 Sinking fund $3,250,000 Grant Gibbons Eugene Cox Verbal fisticuffs by Finance Minister Eugene Cox livened up a debate on his own Ministry yesterday.

Mr. Cox lost his cool during a spat over facts and figures -- and called Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons "the great white hope'' of the UBP. And he added: "I'm the great black hope''.

Chairman Michael Dunkley, however, called "break'' before the verbal sparring got out of hand.