newly-installed UBP Sen. Jerome Dill and Deputy Premier the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto.

"Master's Got a New Nigger!'', said the poster in capital letters, over and below a enlarged photo-copied reproduction of a newspaper photograph of the two shaking hands on the night of their Pembroke West Central primary victory last week.

Mr. Dill, who is black and a newcomer to party politics, has been criticised by some blacks for joining the United Bermuda Party instead of the mostly-black Progressive Labour Party.

Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto, who has represented Pembroke West Central since 1980, is white. Her previous running mate, defeated in the 1989 election, was former Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Dr. Clarence James, who is black.

The posters were found throughout the north side of the constituency yesterday morning, stapled to telephone poles along Berkeley Road, on North Shore Road between Spanish Point and Black Watch Pass, and in a few areas of Paget as well.

"I think it's absolutely abhorrent and I'm dreadfully shocked,'' Mrs.

Cartwright DeCouto said yesterday. "In view of the fact...the UBP has been built on a foundation of integration of this country. I was absolutely shocked that someone would go out on a hate campaign of this nature.'' Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan also condemned the posters.

"The nature of the personal attack which has come to light today...both offends and disappoints, I am sure, the vast majority of Bermudians,'' he said.

"Since its inception, the United Bermuda Party has strived for integration and equal opportunity for all Bermudians.

"For any member of our community to find satisfaction on launching an abhorrent attack on these individuals who have been dedicated to working hard to build a better community, must offend all right-thinking individuals.'' Police spokesman Sgt. John Dale said an investigation into "offensive literature'' has begun.

Investigators are anxious to speak to "any person who might have any information whatsoever, who might have seen anyone posting such material, seen anyone carrying handfuls of paper in those areas or vehicles parked in unusual locations.'' Last night, PLP MP Mr. Julian Hall criticised Police involvement in the case and said he did not think anybody should cooperate with them on this issue.

"I think the idea of turning this into a Police matter is absolutely ridiculous and totally absurd,'' he said.

The community should begin a sensible discussion about race, he said, but instead the Police are launching an investigation.

"I have never heard of anything more ridiculous in my life,'' Mr. Hall said.

"They shouldn't be given the slightest bit of assistance. That will not solve the racial problems of Bermuda. It could possibly exacerbate the racial problems of Bermuda to have someone prosecuted.'' But UBP MP Mrs. Grace Bell, who like Mr. Hall is black, said nobody should underestimate how hurtful political hate literature can be. She said she was extremely upset when she received a hate letter during the controversial 1990 budget that slammed her involvement with her party.

"Julian can say that a person has a right to express himself in this way, but we have a right to associate with whom we wish -- without being accused of having hidden reasons, without being accused of being Uncle Toms.

"It's really aimed at Jerome. I suspect it's somebody from an older generation who has not accepted the fact that Bermuda has changed and will continue to change.''