A plan to bump up membership fees at a public golf course — including a possible 60 percent hike for seniors — prompted a spirited debate in the House of Assembly.

Shadow Sports Minister Darius Tucker criticised the proposed new rates for Ocean View Golf Club during the motion to adjourn on Friday evening.

He quoted figures given in a letter sent by the president of Ocean View to Wendell Brown, chairman of the golf courses' board of trustees, which expressed members' "outrage" at the proposed increases.

The letter lists the proposed new rate for senior membership at the club as $1,250 — a more than 60 percent increase on last year's $780 fee.

Family membership could rise more than 30 percent from $2,565 to $3,500.

Mr. Tucker said the increases would prevent some people from playing a "wonderful sport" and would have an adverse impact on the community.

He said the Devonshire course was at one time the only facility where black people could play golf and Government should find a way to subsidise the fees.

His comments led to an angry interjection from Government backbencher Zane DeSilva, deputy chairman of the board of trustees for the Island's public golf courses.

He leapt to his feet to tell MPs: "Those increases have not been made public yet. They may be proposals but they are not concrete. The jury is still out."

Mr. DeSilva said rates were "being talked about and thrown about and discussed in very big ways" but nothing had been decided.

"It's being discussed on a daily basis for the last several months, very much with the people in mind, not only Ocean View but Port Royal."

The proposed increases, he said, equated to members who typically played golf once a week having to pay between $9 and $15 more for a round. He added: "I can assure you, at the end of the day, everybody will be happy."

A passionate outburst from Opposition Leader Kim Swan followed, with the former golfing pro explaining how his success in the sport at an international level was directly attributable to the opening of the "affordable" Port Royal facility when he was a boy.

"I owe my life to the opportunities that were provided when a government thought it not robbery to change the social landscape," he said.

To now increase fees beyond the budget of the average worker would be to reverse history, Mr. Swan claimed, adding that it would take "us back to that plantation that we often hear about".

Mr. Swan told the House: "I apologise for getting a little excited but I don't apologise for telling the truth."

Mr. DeSilva sprang up several times during Mr. Swan's spirited speech to make points of order but Speaker Stanley Lowe eventually told him he would not allow any more.

Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess delivered a calmer address than his parliamentary colleagues, explaining the high cost of maintaining a golf course used by a relatively small number of people.

He said clubs in the US could charge lower rates by having much bigger memberships.

He said of Ocean View: "This club, I would venture to say, Monday to Thursday, don't have many on that course.

"We can get up here and get all emotional but it all boils down to what it costs."