Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Paula Cox presented a supplementary of $638,000 to the House of Assembly on Friday for the Bermuda Regiment for the annual camp in Jamaica.

This was for a camp which the regiment had committed to, but had not spent the money within the financial year.

Ms Cox produced a further request for an extra $831,000 for the Police. This was made up of $688,000 in salaries, $100,000 for the advertising campaign for local recruits, and $43,000 for over-time for Hurricane Gert. The salaries included pay reviews, one of which was back-dated.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Michael Dunkley accused Government of "trying to close the stable door long after the horse had gone''.

He said the United Bermuda Party had been calling since the election for the Police to be strengthened.

He claimed the UBP had been characterised by Government as "knee-jerk'' when it called for more Police. "Our knee-jerk reaction has proved to be commonsense advice to Government''.

Mr. Dunkley said the $688,000 was to "cover a sore that's been bleeding''.

While supporting the extra expenditure, he urged Government when drawing up the next Budget to cater properly for the Police rather come back to the House to "patch up the sore later''.

Acting Transport Minister Dennis Lister asked for an extra $500,000. It included $182,000 for Dockyard for repairing a tug boat, and additional expenses incurred in rescue work.

Some $40,000 was needed for upgrading facilities at Dockyard to meet health and safety requirements.

The Registry of Shipping required an extra $106,000 because it had to deal with a 34 per cent increase in the number of ships registerd on the island.

Extra pilotage fees were also incurred.

A further $140,000 was needed for the ferry service because of, among other things, over-time payments caused to employ cover for two employees suspended following an altercation. Money was also needed for reprinting ferry schedules. Some $35,000 was for lighting damage to Harbour Radio.

Shadow Transport Minister Erwin Adderley questioned whether some of the expenditure and repairs could have been planned for.

He asked whether the over-time was due to cruises taken in boats by Cabinet ministers.

Telecommunications and E-Commerce Minister Renee Webb said the Ministry of Transport had allowed staff and their families to board a boat which was used to monitor the Christmas parade in the harbour.

There was no food or drink, and no additional cost since the boat had to go out and would have been empty otherwise.

She referred to the Millennium celebrations when Cabinet ministers sailed from Dockyard to St. George's. She said the Department of Tourism funded part of the celebrations and Cabinet ministers were asked to attend them.

Mr. Lister also gained approval for an extra $625,000 for the Public Transportation Board. This was for serious repairs to the bus fleet, to cover new tyre regulations, and for extra bus trips to the Jazz festival and millennium events.

Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott was given approval for $800,000 for consultants fees and repair work to the Times Bay waste treatment facility.

Ms Webb explained that $1,029,000 was needed for her department for expenditure arising out of the Y2K project. This included $500,000 for new hardware and $500,000 for new prgrammes.

She said that during Y2K examinations, it was deemed necessary to replace some computer equipment entirely, and to ensure other computer systems were fully integrated.

Michael Dunkley