Delivering his speech from the throne on the front lawn of the Cabinet building shortly after 11 a.m., the Governor, in full ceremonial regalia including the traditional plumed hat, will spell out Premier Alex Scott's plans.

The ceremony will involve the Bermuda Regiment band and all Senators and Members of Parliament.

Two matters that have provoked major controversy in recent months stand to be thrust back into headlines during this first session of Parliament under the new single-seat constituency system ? GPS for taxis and the delayed annual report on Government finances from Auditor General Larry Dennis.

The GPS (satellite-based) computerised dispatch system for taxi drivers that Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown has pushed to make mandatory can become law automatically this session, if the Government so chooses.

In June last year, the House of Assembly passed GPS legislation, but the Senate rejected the proposals and thus prevented them from becoming law.

Under the Constitution, the Government can wait for one year and the plans will automatically become law.

So taxi drivers, most of whom are opposed to GPS, will be keeping a close eye on the Throne Speech.

In February last year, more than 100 taxi drivers marched to the Cabinet Office and presented a petition to ex-Premier Jennifer Smith, demanding that Dr. Brown be sacked.

And drivers, who have objected to the cost of installing GPS equipment in their cabs, staged a go-slow, clogging traffic on the island's roads, on May 17 last year.

Dr. Brown has argued GPS is needed to improve the island's taxi service.

Mr. Dennis' latest annual report on Government finances covers the financial year from April 1, 2001 to March 31, 2002.

The report was due to be tabled in the House in June, but its publication was put on hold because Parliament was dissolved when the election was called.

Mr. Dennis said yesterday that he expected to table the report on November 14, as the Throne Speech and the Opposition's reply to it would dominate proceedings over the next two weeks.

The Auditor declined to discuss the report's contents until after publication.

But the understands the report includes reference to late Tourism Minister David Allen's entry into a Government health insurance scheme after he had become seriously ill last year ? an issue which sparked fierce debate in the House of Assembly during the spring.

And the audit report would also be expected to contain reference to tumultuous times for the Bermuda Housing Corporation.

It covers the period during which painter Paul Young was paid more than $800,000 by the BHC in payments ? May to November, 2001 ? which have never yet been publicly justified by either the Corporation or the Government.

It was this newspaper which first revealed details of those payments in BHC cheque payee lists which we published under the 'Bermuda's Enron' headline 19 months ago.

How much detail on the BHC would be in the report is in doubt, as the matter is the subject of an ongoing police investigation.

Mr. Allen's case involved his entry into a Government health insurance scheme after he had fallen seriously ill in last August.

Sources told that Finance Minister Eugene Cox had intervened to get Mr. Allen into the scheme at the last minute.

But Accountant General Kenneth Joaquin said later that nothing illegal or improper had been done and that enrolment in the scheme could not have been influenced by the Finance Minister.

Expected to be included in the Throne Speech are plans to implement Bermuda's first Ombudsman ? an official appointed to investigate complaints of maladministration made by members of the public against Government authorities.

Plans to set up a National Health Council and to make progress towards a national unemployment insurance scheme may also be mentioned.

Among the ruling Progressive Labour Party's pre-election promises were to create a court for criminals suffering from mental illness, a maths literacy project, new crash helmet standards and a ban on paints harmful to the environment.