Mrs. Lois Browne Evans MP for Queen's Counsel, a respected former educator said.

Dr. Marjorie Bean said it had been alleged that Mrs. Browne Evans' application failed because of a lack of support from the bar association.

"If this be true, then in my view, the covering letter accompanying the Browne Evans application must have been the most cabalistic, collusive, Machiavellian, arch-hypocritical, diluted ... document ever issued over the signatures and seals of the Bermuda Bar Association,'' Dr. Bean said in a letter to The Royal Gazette .

"It is to be hoped that the Bermuda Bar Association redeems its credibility and compensates for its `damned' error of omission or `faint praise' by submitting themselves, within the near future, our lady barrister's name for the coveted QC title.'' Dr. Bean, a former education officer in the Department of Education, is honorary president of the Royal Commonwealth Society and is active in the Professional Businesswomen's Association and the Salvation Army, among other bodies. She retired in 1974.

Senior attorney and Environment Minister the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto said last Thursday it was "safe to assume'' Mrs. Browne Evans' application had failed due to a lack of support from the Bar Council. "I think it's common knowledge,'' she said.

Mr. John Riihiluoma, president of the Bar Association, refused again to comment on Mrs. Browne Evans' application.

But it was not correct to say an application for Queen's Counsel is accompanied by a covering letter from the Bar Association, he said.

Applications from lawyers who have a minimum of 15 years standing are sent to the Deputy Governor and copied to the Bermuda Bar Association and the Chief Justice for comment, Mr. Riihiluoma said.

A 10-member Bar Council, which is the executive of the 160-member Bar Association, then comments on the application, he said. The council is elected from within the bar, with the exception of the Attorney General, who is an ex-officio member, he said.

Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto said the Bar Council was "totally and utterly wrong'' in its handling of the Browne Evans' application. "I suspect there have been other cases where they were also totally and utterly wrong.

"I think the system should be scrapped,'' she added. A QC has no special powers as a lawyer, but earns the right to wear silk robes and charge higher fees.

Mr. Riihiluoma said he did not know how much influence comments from the Bar Association or the Chief Justice had on the fate of a QC application. "I am assuming that they do have weight,'' he said. "Both would have first-hand knowledge of the individuals.'' Dr. Bean, who taught Mrs. Browne Evans when she was at the Berkeley Institute, said the legal and political contributions of the 35-year veteran of the Bermuda Bar were well-known.

"Suffice it for me to add that Mrs. Browne Evans in the eyes and judgement of many fellow Bermudians ... was sufficiently meritorious and more deserving than some of her colleagues who were recently granted the honour which she so rightfully sought.'' Mr. Arnold Francis, the first Bermudian to become a QC, has called the failure of Mrs. Browne Evans' application a "travesty.'' He said a special committee of senior lawyers should scrutinise future applications for the honorary title, rather than the present Bar Council, the membership of which is not restricted by seniority.

Mr. Riihiluoma said there could be merit in having a separate body to review QC applications, but he was opposed to restricting membership on the Bar Council to those with 15 years seniority. The council is intended to represent a cross-section of junior and senior lawyers, he said.

The names of three lawyers who successfully applied for the QC title were announced earlier this month.

Dr. Marjorie Bean.