Bermuda's antiquated salvage laws are allowing the Island's cultural heritage to be "sold off'' to the highest bidder, archaeologist Dr. Edward Harris charged yesterday.

"The laws aid and abet the transfer of our cultural heritage into private hands,'' the director of the Maritime Museum said.

Dr. Harris, who sits on the Government wrecks committee, said proposed changes to salvage laws had been drafted and approved by Cabinet, but seemed to have been shelved.

Diver Mr. Chriss Addams' and his valuable one-of-a-kind collection of 18th Century convict carvings found in Dockyard waters, which he has offered for sale to Government, clearly showed how current salvage laws were failing the country, Dr. Harris said.

If Government chooses not to buy the historic collection because of a lack of money, it could go overseas, he pointed out.

Dr. Harris was not the only one angered by the news Bermuda could lose the carvings collection.

Chairman of the Bermuda National Trust Museums Committee Mr. Hugh Davidson said he too had a problem with local laws "allowing the sale of Bermuda's cultural heritage''.

"And I wonder how scientific the retrieval carried out was,'' he said, adding: "I don't think we would accept the collection for our exhibits because of this factor.'' It seemed that Government was basically "giving people licences to retrieve Bermuda's heritage and then sell it at a profit''.

Dr. Harris said: "In 1995 Bermuda still has virtually no protection for our archaeological heritage. Why are we continuing to allow this situation to take place in Bermuda?'' Community and Cultural Affairs Minister the Hon. Wayne Furbert admitted this week the as-yet-undisclosed price tag on Addams' collection may be a problem for Government in purchasing it.

Addams who says he has had offers from Boston and Australia for the collection, has hired the promotional firm of Capcar Enterprises to find a buyer for it.

The collection consists of about 200 objects -- cannons, bowls, chess pieces, jewellery -- finely carved out of coral, flow stone and metal by convicts aboard the miserable British prison hulks berthed in Dockyard.

The convicts, sentenced to hard labour here, helped build the Dockyard. Their carvings were thrown overboard with the hulk garbage perhaps because of disease or as punishment.

Addams, after researching the history of the hulks, spent the last 15 years scouring the Dockyard seabed for the artifacts at his own expense, obtaining a licence from Government to do so.

Capcar claims that in 1993, Mr. Addams was granted sole exploratory rights to the Dockyard site and ownership rights to the objects from "the Crown''.

Mr. Addams, who prefers to have the collection remain in Bermuda, says the carvings are a testimony to what the human spirit can endure, a historical insight into the period, and a reminder of a very dark chapter in our Colonial history.

Dr. Harris said he was not attacking Addams since he "had been operating under the law''.

But he added: "We are a very small Island with limited cultural

3 Harris: Artefacts are common property resources to draw on in terms of artifacts from the past. And the archaeology of Bermuda forms the largest reservoir of potential information about Bermuda's past and it should be protected. It is national resource which belongs to all the people of Bermuda. It should not be divvied out to private individuals -- that is selling off our cultural heritage. It's not like it's in someone's backyard, it's common property.'' Dr. Harris said there were numerous archaeological field students and groups willing to assist locals in searching for and in digging or diving up artifacts -- in a scientific and approved manner.

By licensing private individuals to excavate under the current laws, Government was depriving Bermuda of objects for its museums and "whole chapters of its history''.

"I don't think it's right. And it's high time the law was changed,'' he said.

Dr. Harris said the law says any artifacts on the ocean floor belong to the Government of Bermuda.

"However, under the law, Government can give out licences to salvage underwater sites and the moment the licence is granted there is an implied transfer of ownership of any objects found -- to the licenceholders and then if Government wishes any of the objects found, it has to pay -- compensate the licence holder for the objects.'' This, Dr. Harris believes, is not fair to Bermuda's heritage.

"The artifacts and the knowledge associated with the artifacts belong to the country,'' he said. "There's no real protection for archaeological sites on land either. Someone can get a licence to excavate in St. George's on the Town Square and dig up and take anything they get and sell it off.'' Dr. Harris added that contrary to Mr. Addams and Capcar's version, the law had always covered shipwreck-related materials as well as historical underwater sites.