Attorney General Dame Lois Browne Evans explained the reasons for the separation of prosecutions from her role as the advisor to Government.

Bermuda's first woman barrister spoke widely yesterday about the role of law and lawyers and the rationale behind the Progressive Labour Party's decisions on legal matters.

She characterised the PLP Government's changes over the past year and a half as democratisation, and she acknowledged Government is looking into increasing the number of judges and their salaries, which she called "abysmal''.

A lawyer since 1953, Dame Lois drew upon her vast experiences to illustrate the PLP's reasons for promptly following the British example of creating an Office of the Public Prosecutions and a political attorney general.

She said the 1979 Constitutional Conference saw the PLP get a concession that each Bermuda government should be able to decide on the issue.

Dame Lois said she was "most annoyed'' at the fact it took some time before the two offices were physically separated -- thereby symbolically removing any hint of interference.

She cited the Rodney Smith incident last October as an example of both media and public confusion about the issue, saying her office had nothing to do with Mr. Smith's prosecution.

She also chafed at the thought the separation of the two offices is still not complete in that the DPP's budget still comes under the AG's "vote'' or cost heading.

"I wish we could hurry up so we could get this country into the 20th century,'' she said.

Lawyer Richard Hector, who has been assisting the Commission in questioning, interrupted Dame Lois, correcting her on the recent change, saying the year 2000 was the 21st century.

But the feisty septuagenarian responded: "No, no! I do mean the 20th century.'' When asked by Commission Chairman Stanley Moore about victims' rights and measures for giving them assistance, Dame Lois said she has long supported having court psychiatrists and social workers.

Psychological and grievance counselling should not be the purview of the prosecutors Dame Lois added.

Ever the defence lawyer, Dame Lois strongly warned about protecting an accused person's rights.

She cited examples in her career before the bar of prosecuting Attorney Generals who changed laws to limit defendant's rights and warned against US-style "victims impact statements''.