yesterday spoke out in defence of ZBM's Monday night referendum debate programme that allegedly fell foul of political broadcasting regulations.

Criticised for not presenting a balanced panel at the UBP sponsored debate, Mr. Richardson said that Government Ministers the Hon. Clarence Terceira and the Hon. David Saul had been invited but had not shown up.

Dr. Terceira, the Education Minister, and Finance Minister Dr. Saul were members of the committee which drew up the Independence Green Paper. Neither are believed to be public supporters of Independence.

While Dr. Terceira could not be reached for comment last night, Dr. Saul denied receiving an invitation to appear on the show.

But Mr. Richardson said: "We invited a committee that consisted of people firmly divided by the issue.'' Instead, only three Ministers, the Hon. Irving Pearman, the Hon. Jerome Dill and the Hon. Maxwell Burgess, were featured. All are public supporters of Independence.

On the question of exceeding the time limit, Mr. Richardson said he accepted the point.

"We acknowledge that and we won't do it again,'' he said. The programme was prolonged after members of the studio audience requested they be given an opportunity to put questions to the panel.

Mr. Richardson added that twice before the programme, he requested a meeting with the Broadcast Commission to discuss the issue of televised debates.