Friday, had Opposition MPs wondering if Government was really "getting on with the business of the people.'' The first bill, an amendment of the 1983 Conveyancing Act, is designed to protect creditors, both local and international, from "unscrupulous borrowers.'' But Mrs. Lois Browne Evans (PLP) said she couldn't understand why Government had devoted so much attention to this bill when there were other, more pressing concerns with which to deal.

"We are amending a 10-year-old act to accommodate something very specialised,'' she said. "I can't think of anyone who has passed away simply to get out of paying his debts.'' The bill, Mrs. Browne Evans continued, was likely the product of some hidden agenda on the Government's part.

"We say that the United Bermuda Party is not getting on with what it should.

Has there been a clamour for this (bill)? Or is it, as I believe, that the lobby of the creditors and the lobby of business is so strong that they get whatever they want?'' In response, Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul denied any hidden agenda or untoward lobbying, saying that the bill was needed to cement Bermuda's status as an international centre of finance.

"There has not been a great number of Bermudians who have used a conveyance procedure to avoid their debts,'' he admitted. "(But there are) other jurisdictions who have had problems with nationals who set up a corporation in Bermuda to specifically protect their property for their families. This bill meets the needs (of those jurisdictions) and will go to Bermuda's credit.'' The second bill, an "updating'' of the 1981 Bermuda Companies Act that was described by the Finance Minister as part of "a perennial review'' of such legislation, met with the same antipathy from the PLP.

But UBP backbencher Mr.

Rick Spurling said he would like to see such bills passed annually.

"If there is an Amendment Act every year,'' he said, "then that would indicate progress, because it means we are being proactive, and responsive to the international community.''