An increase of more than $400,000 over three years on the Annual Exhibition was necessary, according to the Director of Parks.

On Friday, in the House of Assembly, Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield said the cost of the Exhibition rose from $264,317 in 2003 to $678,364 in 2006 — a 250 percent increase.

And yesterday, Director of Parks, Lisa-Dawn Johnston, revealed the difference of $414,047 was owing to, among other things, overtime for the staff, recuperation after Hurricane Fabian and overseas acts.

She said: "A large amount of the increase is due to overtime pay for the staff.

"This includes Ministry employees from Conservation services, Environmental protection, Department of Parks, as well as Works and Engineering and some from the other Government departments.

"After Hurricane Fabian we did not have the benefit of many of the buildings - no grandstand and barn for example, and this required the rental of large tents for the grandstand, bleachers seating and the livestock.

"A survey held showed that approximately 30 percent of the visitors to the show stated that the overseas entertainment was one of the reasons that they came, so the following year, overseas acts were once again invited.

"Last year, showed a significant increase in the cost of the overseas act because of the need to ship in the large equipment - the three storey swimming pool, acrobatic gear etc."

Questions raised about whether the increase in overtime was due to more staff or a change in policy about overtime were not answered as of time of going to press.

Last night, Opposition Environment spokesman, Cole Simons however, said he wasn't satisfied with the explanation, saying there had been no obvious change in the event over the years.

Mr. Simons suggested there need to be a study of the event's budget "line by line" to see how it is all spent and then a portion of should be set aside for infrastructure improvements.

He said: "They need to invest more in the Botanical Gardens to make it a first-class exhibition grounds. If there were a proper development strategy in five or six years you wouldn't have to rent these huge marquees.

"The price of things do go up, but I can't justify a 50 to 60 percent increase every year. If there was something added educationally that would give the public something tangible to walk away with, it would help sustain the show.

"You need to give people something for the additional money being spent. The 2006 show was not a different experience from before, but you're spending three times as much."

In response to allegations, the organisation had ordered thousands of shirts incorrectly, Ms. Johnston added: "We had a sample shirt brought in, the colour was not ideal, so we chose another colour and ordered the shirts at that time."