between the public and Government, says Shadow Health and Social Services Minister Mr. Nelson Bascome.

And there was danger in Government's decision to remove the councils' social assistance role, he said.

"The abuses that could come in there are that persons who were in dire need and did not know who to approach at one time used the parish council as a liaison,'' Mr. Bascome told The Royal Gazette .

"Now, that will be lost.'' Some parish councils have already stopped issuing social assistance cheques, and none would be issuing cheques after October, a Social Assistance official said.

Instead, the monthly cheques would be issued to the recipients by the Accountant General.

"I suppose the thinking is that if one organisation carries out an activity, it's easier to introduce uniformities in the actual delivery of the service,'' the spokesman said. "It was Government money that they were distributing anyway.'' But one parish council chairman questioned whether the cheques would be issued more efficiently by Government. Mr. Giorgio Zanol, chairman of the Devonshire Parish Council, said he would wait and see, but: "My opinion is that the people who need social assistance will have to wait longer for the cheques.

"One central office won't be able to send out all of these cheques at the end of the month,'' he said. "In Devonshire, we have been fairly efficient.'' Backbench Government MP Mr. Anthony Correia recently said parish councils had lost so much clout they were almost useless.

And Mr. Bascome said he agreed. "The councils should be better utilised,'' he said. Before the system was changed, elected parish vestries "did provide a very valuable service as ombudsmen for Government.

"The parish council now may need to take on one of the old basic roles that the vestries did -- assuring things are right within the parish.'' Until 1971, councils collected a portion of property taxes and had responsibility for street lighting, garbage collection, district nursing, and weights and measures.

Now, one of their only remaining responsibilities will be rest homes. An exception is Paget Parish Council, which operates the docks at Red Hole.

Council chairmen like Mr. Zanol said they would not miss the job of issuing social assistance cheques, since councils long ago lost their role investigating applicants' claims.

And there were other things to keep the councils busy, they said. "It's just one more job that's gone,'' Warwick Parish Council chairman Mr. W. Marischal Astwood said. On social assistance, "now it looks like we're stripped of everything.

"I don't think it's quite the thing to do,'' he said. "Local knowledge is important to people who are receiving assistance.''