Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness further singled out drug pushers see younger children as their largest market.

Pushers go out, at times travelling from Somerset to St. George's in a single day, soliciting school children.

Mr. Edness said drug-free zones must be placed around schools such as Warwick Secondary and Warwick Academy, which need more protection.

He also cited the Police-Schools liason project, pointing to similar efforts in Western Australia and elsewhere where Police officers are hired to run youth clubs.

Five officers are currently involved in the liaison project, he noted, while calls for an increased Police presence in school-related activities such as Outward Bound.

The Minister then levelled his fire at alcohol abuse and impaired drivers, saying Government was committed to strengthening legislation to protect innocent users of the road.

As indicated in the Speech from the Throne he said, Police will be given more power to stop and test suspected impaired drivers.

He also called recent recommendations by the Medical Committee on Road Safety were constructive and noted Government was examining new technologies which will make it possible to test suspected drivers either at the roadside or in hospital. He noted Government would however be mindful of its obligation to civil liberties.

Government's Proceeds of Crime Bill would also be brought before the House this session, Mr. Edness announced.

He promised the bill would take a bite of drug-related crimes, citing its effectiveness in the UK. Similar legislation has also been introduced in the Caymen Islands, Gibralter, and most recently Turkey.

Dealing with domestic violence will also be a priority of Government and legislation is in the works for an anti-stalking bill, he said.

Such legislation underscores Government's committment to protecting people and businesses across the Island.

Fear of criminal acts, especially those against visitors, recieve immediate attention overseas, the day they happen, and can affect every man, woman, and child living here, said Mr. Edness.

Citing a recent American travel advisory issued against Jamaica, Mr. Edness said the costs of criminal activity are incalculable on the tourism industry.

"It's too risky to allow crime to reach a plateau that when people talk about Bermuda they don't talk about its beauty, they talk about its crime,'' he told the House.

Turning to his Labour portfolio Mr. Edness paid tribute to outgoing members of the Employment Training Council, which is to be replaced by a National Training Board coming under the aegis of the recently established Department of Labour and Training.

That department he said, is now in a position to provide continuous monitoring of Bermudian trainees and will work to ensure young Bermudians are trained to take part in 21st Century technologies.

I am required, he told the House, to strike a balance between the needs of employers and those of the individual Bermudian job hunter.

Moving on to the plight of long-term residents Mr. Edness said a number of problems have become apparent. Some residents of more than 20 years have no job security, nor do the children of some who have moved to the Island at an early age and have come to know Bermuda as their only home.

Government will be presenting a Green Paper to outline various options on this issue.

Government will also move to end sex discrimination in the 1956 Immigration Act.

Responding for the Opposition Alex Scott paid tribute to PLP leader Jennifer Smith for her response to the Speech from the Throne, and to outgoing Governor Lord Waddington.

He then sailed into comments made by the Minister of Labour, saying that in three hours of talk virtually nothing was said.

He told the House the Minister was incapable of correcting the problems confronting the working men and women of Bermuda, especially the twin devils of unemployment and underemployment.

He also presented real cases of discrimination against Bermudians who have been passed over for work by employers who have used misleading and mischevious ends in their dealing with the Department of Immigration.

Non-Bermudians he said, were gaining more jobs while Bermudians continued to slip in the labour market.

Conspiracies by employers to inflate the qualifications of overseas workers appeared to be widespread he said, and the Minister was asleep at the wheel.

He went on to slam Government's attitude towards organised labour, saying the UBP has tried to sow the seeds of discord between employers and employees, and has yet to recognise International Labour Organisation standards.

"In my view a strong labour movement is good for the economy,'' said Mr.

Scott.

Labour relations have yet to come of age in Bermuda he added, because the current Minister doesn't believe in an equal partnership between labour and management.

On the issue of public safety Mr. Scott told the House the PLP was committed to law and order, but wondered whether hiring more Police, as opposed to better force deployment, was the answer.

He also questioned certain aspects of a recently announced exchange of Police officers with the UK. While a crossfertilisation of ideas is healthy and good, he slammed the idea that UK officers would be put in command of their Bermudian counterparts.

Bermudian officers, he told the House, had greater experience in drug interdiction and mulitcultural policing at any rate, drawing jeers from the UBP bench.

The PLP has tried to take a constructive approach with its 105-page Crime Review document, especially in the areas of incarceration options.

The PLP also believes crime and unemployment are social problems bound together with the failure of the school system to provide hope for Bermudian youth.

A new PLP government will address itself to the steady stream of social damages in the community.

"We've heard of the lower classes, now we're getting an underclass. That's all we need is another layer of class,'' he said.

On the issue of long-term residents Mr. Scott said taking care of Bermudians should be Government's first priority.

Minister of Education Jerome Dill , following, chided Mr. Scott on his praise of Ms Smith's response to the Throne Speech, noting how the Honourable Member has challenged the Opposition twice for her job.

He then called into question Mr. Scott's main contention that Bermudians, especially males, were losing ground in the workforce.

Reading from a copy of the Economist Magazine he noted males around the world were losing ground to females, not just in Bermuda.

And he took issue with Ms Smith's claim that a lack of educational opportunities existed on the Island.

Government has recently increased funding for scholarships to promising students and restructured the education system.

But Government he said, isn't going to direct limited resources at students who refuse to perform.

"If you're going to get Government funding you have to perform,'' he told the House.

Mr. Dill continued that with the business community contributing $5.7 million there was $12 million available to young people for further education this year.

He said education also helped the family and ensured that young people were in a position to make the "greatest possible contribution to the family unit and the country as a whole.

"No-one in this House should have the temerity to make a statement that there is a lack of education opportunities for our young people,'' he added.

Mr. Dill also fired a few broadsides at statements made by the PLP regarding the majority of inmates in Westgate being from public schools, the majority of students at Bermuda College being from public schools and that people were opting out of public schools in favour of private schools.

The Minister shot all three statements down saying none were true and the statements were unhelpful and unfair.

Mr. Dill also refuted claims that the illiteracy rate had increased among school children and claims that the proposed drug-free zones meant the Government was sending a message that drugs would be tolerated in other areas.

According to the Minister the UBP is the party of law and order, but it also recognised the need for compassion through such projects as providing drug recovery facilities.

The Throne Speech addressed the need to help children with behavioural problems and Mr. Dill said a pilot scheme running in some schools to put problem children into other classes within the school could be expanded.

He added, however, that Government had not abandoned the option of an alternative school for children with behavioural problems.

This year, he added, the Police would be running a classroom scheme involving five officers.

"It puts us in a position where we can introduce a young person to authority figures in a non-threatening environment. Far too often the first encounter with a Police officer is a confrontational encounter.'' Shadow Youth and Sports Minister Nelson Bascome said he was concerned that children were not being taught Bermudian history.

PLP's family values questioned "Once we start to concentrate on our history and where we came from and what we have been through, only then can we reply to some of the ills we have heard about.'' He went on to say that Bermuda was losing its young people to the streets because of a lack of facilities.

Mr. Bascome said he hoped the National Sports Centre would replace demolished buildings with something to cater for the whole community and that the base lands could have been utilised to children with more facilities.

Talk of a national cricket pitch at the Centre concerned him, said Mr. Bascome because it could take revenue away from the cricket clubs and he said there was an urgent need to up-grade recreational space in Bermuda.

UBP backbencher Maxwell Burgess attacked the PLP's response to the Throne Speech saying he found "great difficulty'' in understanding the Opposition's stance on training.

"I will go to my grave wondering what the PLP meant about one of the most fundamental and important areas that affects us moving into the 21st Century.'' He added that the PLP "in an attempt to hide their normally soft position on crime'' referred to its own crime report -- which few people had seen.

Mr. Burgess kept up his attack on the PLP's response to the Throne Speech, adding the UBP Government would not tolerate people preying on children and said he could not understand why the Opposition was opposed to protection of children.

"There goes the PLP's family values,'' he said.

Shifting his focus to the question of long-term residents Mr. Burgess also chided the Opposition for failing to state their position clearly.

He also derided the PLP for their positions on fighting domestic violence.

Saying a UBP Government was ready to lead Bermuda into the 21st Century, he cited recent initiatives in the field of education, teasing Opposition Leader Smith for "abandoning her old responsibilities.'' Moving on to tourism Mr. Burgess paid tribute to Minister of Tourism David Dodwell , telling the house Bermuda is in the tourism business for the long haul.

Mr. Burgess also took aim at PLP proposals to develop low-cost housing on base lands property.

"There is no such thing as low cost housing on Bermuda. The PLP is preaching false economics. A house costs what it costs. We want people to know there's no such thing as a free lunch,'' he said.