Restoration expert Mr. Sanders Frith Brown claims the trustees cannot also be members of Government's wrecks committee.

But his argument was countered by Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul who denied any conflict.

Dr. Saul, who is also a trustee of BUEI, claims salvage from wrecks will be only a small part of the Institute's work.

Mr. Frith Brown agreed with statements made by Health Minister the Hon.

Quinton Edness who, speaking as a concerned Bermudian, called for trustees to look for alternatives sites for BUEI over the weekend.

Mr. Frith Brown is one of the six official objectors to the proposal. He said: "In fact I am one of 4,006 objectors because of the members of the National Trust, which has objected.'' But Mr. Frith Brown said one argument against the Institute which had not arisen publicly was the conflict of interest between trustees and the wrecks committee, which is under the umbrella of Government's Ministry of Finance.

The three people concerned are Mr. Jack Lightbourn, Mr. Teddy Tucker and Mr.

Smokey Wingood.

Mr. Frith Brown said: "Three of the trustees have the ability to block anything that goes through the wrecks committee.

"BUEI claims it will follow international conventions on salvaging from wrecks, but they are not doing anything illegal under Bermuda's laws. They have been sitting on this law for six years. They have held the whole thing up. It is outrageous.'' Mr. Frith Brown called on Dr. Saul to remove the conflict of interest by removing some of the wrecks committee members.

He said: "It may just be an oversight, but the wrecks committee is the only committee under Government that contains no black or female representatives.

"I also believe it should be under the Ministry of Culture. These wrecks are for Bermuda not for a few individuals to use for collectibles.'' Mr. Frith Brown agreed with other reasons for the BUEI plans to be changed to a different site particularly on traffic congestion grounds.

Dr. Saul said: "There is no conflict of interest. The Institute is not going to be in the collections business at all. That will be only a small aspect of what is in the Institute.

"What do you expect these people to do -- resign from the committee? There is no conflict.'' Dr. Saul pointed out that Mr. Lightbourn, in particular, had been a long-serving member of the wrecks committee because of his interest in the subject.