money to help the people in Mozambique during the current natural disasters.

And he mentioned that he saw in the paper that Bermudian representatives were sent to a cultural event in "the islands to the South''.

"If we can spend money to go to (a cultural event in the Caribbean) then we should be able to give money to those poor, starving, dying people in Africa,'' said Mr. Woolridge.

"Shame on the Government! I am embarrassed to be a member of this House,'' he added.

Opposition MP John Barritt complained that although he submitted written questions to Government more than a week ago, three questions still had not been answered.

And he demanded to know Government's position on "oversized cars''.

Acting Transport Minister Renee Webb said Transport Minister Ewart Brown intended to speak about the matter in the House but was off Island because of a family emergency.

She said he would speak about the issue sometime next week. Mr. Barritt mentioned the conference Premier Jennifer Smith attended in London with other members of Government.

And he said the statement she read following the conference was a communique that could have been accessed over the Internet.

Mr. Barritt said he wanted more information about what Bermuda's representatives said at the conference and what issues came up that were pertinent specifically to the Island.

But Ms Webb retorted: "Whenever the Premier takes a trip abroad, she always comes back to the House and gives a ministerial statement.

"Do we as a Government make policy decisions on our feet? Ministers speak all the time about Government's position and people know because we as a Government put it out all the time,'' she added.

She criticised Mr. Woolridge for suggesting that Delaey Robinson's dreadlocks did not mean that he was really black.

"The days of black-on-black insults should be long over....you claim you want to support people in Africa and you can't even support your own community,'' she said.

"I see my role in this Government as empowering people economically -- we as a people do not own our own Country... .Bermudians always complain about there being too many foreigners, but what are you doing about it?'' "We can talk about the islands to the south all we want, but at least they own their own means of production,'' she added.

Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons admitted that the former Government attended a number of overseas conferences but said he wanted details about "why the conference was useful to Bermuda, what the honourable member learned, and how it will impact Bermuda''.

Dr. Gibbons mentioned a conference that Education Minister Milton Scott attended in Senegal.

He said the conference focused on basic universal education and questioned the benefit to Bermuda since "we don't consider ourselves a Third World country''.

"We're not interested in a social diary, we're interested in what went on to effect Bermuda. .. .where's the beef in terms of what's actually happening there?'' said Dr. Gibbons.