MPs clashed in the House of Assembly on Friday over Government's application for almost $5 million in additional spending.

Premier Jennifer Smith moved a motion for an extra $1,312,600 for the Cabinet Office.

This included $1,162,500 for a Y2K management office to ensure Government departments were prepared for the Millennium bug.

It followed a review by consultants KPMG, and involved seven temporary posts as well as the use of consultants into early 2000.

In addition, she asked for almost $100,000 as part of the Cabinet Office's one third share of $295,000 for a marketing advertorial placed in the European edition of Time magazine in July. The Departments of Tourism and Finance also shared a third of the cost.

In addition, Cabinet had agreed to support Red Cross appeals up to the cost of $50,000 for Hurricane George and work in Kosovo.

Finance Minister Eugene Cox , anticipating criticism from the Opposition, said the Progressive Labour Party Government was carrying out its business in a proper manner by asking for permission for extra monies before they were spent.

The former United Bermuda Party administration, he alleged, spent the money first and then came to the House for approval.

But Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons said despite Mr. Cox's "self-righteous'' speech, the new Government had already broken its new edict because some of the money asked for had already been spent.

And he accused Mr. Cox of misleading the House in his allegation about the conduct of the UBP Government.

Mr. Cox said: "We've been trying to live by the Auditor's recommendations (made in Spring 1998) to bring before the House any monies to be asked for so that this can be addressed and is approved by the House before it is spent.

The rules have changed.'' Mr. Cox, the MP for Sandys North, accused the UBP of making public statements in the media before debating the issues in the House.

"These people are criticising the Government about things that haven't even been debated,'' he said. "That's a lack of transparency. Supplementaries come before they are spent because that's the rule of the game.'' Dr. Gibbons countered: "Having heard the long lecture about bringing this to the House before money is spent, has any of this money been spent? "In this self-righteous position we're now adhering to, the rules seem to have been by-passed. We now have a classic example where we are bringing it after the fact.'' Accounting for the money that could be, spent on Government's Millennium Bug preparation office, Acting Home Affairs Minister Renee Webb said: "Despite the fact that Bermuda has been given a high rating globally when it comes to Y2K preparedness, this Government decided it needed to assure itself it was ready.'' She explained that the Y2K management office had been a recommendation in a worldwide directive issued by the United Nations.

"We're simply following this directive, making sure that contingency plans are put in place for anything that might go wrong,'' Ms Webb said.

Asked by Shadow Development Minister Allan Marshall if the KPMG consultants being employed in the office were local or from overseas, Ms Smith said only one had come from abroad.

"We see it as essential that the Country can make a successful, smooth transition from one century to the next without any problems and that is why we made a firm financial commitment to it,'' she explained.

Mr. Cox explained how the salary of a consultant, on the Overseas Territory Review Committee which will be set up in the UK next year, needed to be paid.

He also noted that thousands of dollars had been spent on overseas promotion and marketing of the Bermudian Stock Exchange.

And Ms Webb revealed that new positions had been created in both the Registrar General's Office and in the Prison Services, following an industrial dispute last June in which officers complained of being overworked.

At this, Shadow Public Safety Minister Michael Dunkley said he was concerned that "the creation of an even larger bureaucracy'' would mean even "more administrative problems than we have right now''.

Tourism Minister David Allen said he felt that "every dollar spent on the Tourism Ministry this last fiscal year has been well spent''.

"After the previous Government neglected the industry for so long and let it fall between the cracks, we have really made an effort to put the Bermudian identity back in tourism,'' he said.

He referred to his Cabinet colleagues' commitment to laying a "firm foundation'' for tourism to be built in the future and added: "We need to have a good concrete mixture for this building to be held together.'' "This past year we have succeeded in demonstrating that this Government has faith in Bermudian tourism,'' Mr. Allen said. "We put our money where our mouth is and showed the industry that we are serious about relaunching tourism with solid partnerships with hotels, airlines and travel agencies.'' Mr. Allen listed the various recent initiatives of his Department in countries overseas, saying that the roadshow in Canada had been an "unqualified success'' and the trip to the UK Labour Party Conference had been "rewarding'' in a great many ways.

He also noted that the Bermuda supplement in Time Magazine last July was "real value for money'' and "showed thousands of readers that there was a fresh breeze in Bermuda''.

Premier Jennifer Smith: $1.3 million for Cbinet Office