The bill for a glossy brochure on the Progressive Labour Party's first 100 days in power and two associated TV broadcasts came to more than $54,000, it was revealed Friday in the House of Assembly.

And Shadow Development and Opportunity Minister Allan Marshall slammed the cost as a waste of public money.

He added: "That is the renovation cost of a three-bedroom house down in Southside, which we're looking to get back into the housing market.

"For this amount of money, we could have had one more home and a Bermudian family as new home owners living there.'' And Mr. Marshall added: "More than $50,000 was a lot of money for something which didn't say much at all -- it could have been much better spent.'' The cost of the promotion was disclosed by Government in a written answer after Mr. Marshall tabled a series of questions relating to print and TV productions.

And he hit out at Development and Opportunity Minister Terry Lister for not allowing him the opportunity to ask follow-up questions on the floor of the House of Assembly.

Mr. Marshall said he had asked for the matter to be postponed for a week so he could get a verbal reply -- which would have meant he could ask further questions.

He added he had been under the impression his request had been granted.

But Mr. Marshall said the Minister had given the answers in written form and said there was insufficient time for follow-up questions.

And he added that he had wanted to ask if any of the TV work had been put out to tender.

Mr. Marshall said he had also wanted to ask if RF Communications -- which worked for the PLP in the run-up to the General Election -- had been involved in the broadcast part of the work and if it had been put out to tender first.

He added: "It was always the UBP's practice to put things out to tender.

"When you're dealing with Government money, you have a moral obligation to get the best value for money.'' Mr. Marshall admitted: "There is nothing which says the new Government has to do that -- but it was our philosophy to do that.

"Our concern is, if this kind of work is not going out to tender, that the Government could be giving out work to their friends -- and that the taxpayer will be hit with higher rates down the road.'' Mr. Lister could not be contacted for comment last night.

Mr. Marshall also pointed out that the Island had media organisations which could be used to get across Government positions.

He said: "The media is there to publicise to the people of this country what Government is doing.

"It's a matter of holding the appropriate press conferences or issuing Press releases. The media is there and that's what they're there for.

"Let's not spend a lot of money basically just to push political propaganda.'' One of the TV broadcasts was banned by the Broadcasting Commission because it broke rules on the length of time allowed for Government broadcasts every month.

The first broadcast exceeded the 15-minute-a-month rule and the second had to be cut and shown the month after the original programme.