spokeswoman for the Bermuda Electric Light Co. Ltd. said yesterday.

Miss Linda Smith, Belco's communications officer, said the holiday marked a substantial improvement over last year, when ten outages resulted from kites entangled in power lines.

When the splendid weekend weather was considered, the improved numbers showed that a six-year-old Belco programme aimed at educating children in Primary 1 and 2 had been paying dividends, said Miss Smith.

The two outages both occurred on Good Friday. But over the weekend, Belco crews responded to 155 kite calls, Miss Smith said. The public has been urged to telephone the utility whenever a kite gets caught in a line.

"We know that on Good Friday we're going to get a lot of kites in the wires,'' Miss Smith said. "What we don't want is people pulling on them, trying to get the kites out themselves.

"That's what causes the outages. It also could be dangerous.'' No injuries were reported as a result of kite collisions with electric wires, and there had not been an injury in recent memory, Miss Smith noted.

Last year there were fewer kites caught in the wires -- 113 -- but more outages. "We're pleased with this,'' she added.

The more serious of the two outages on Friday began at 4.20 p.m. in the Boaz Island area. The lights were back on within the hour, Miss Smith said.

The other outage, which affected the Wellington Back Road area in St.

George's, lasted just under two hours.

Miss Linda Smith.