at a salary of almost $100,000 came under fire yesterday from the Opposition.

"We are bound to ask how many Bermudians were considered for this new post,'' Shadow Labour Minister Mr. Alex Scott said yesterday. "What qualifications did this non-Bermudian have that Bermudian applicants lacked? "And will Government confirm or deny reports that the non-Bermudian appointed by (Labour Minister the Hon. J. Irving) Pearman to this new base post will hold his old job and this new post?'' The MP posed the questions in a statement accusing Mr. Pearman of failing to follow through on his Bermudianisation and training promises.

PLP research showed Bermudians were being eased out of jobs, he claimed.

But Acting Labour Minister the Hon. Jerome Dill responded: "Mr. Scott's ability to misread statistics is becoming legendary.'' Bermudians were simply leaving the hotels for other job sectors, he said.

Canadian Mr. Ken Stubbings, former director of Management Services, was the non-Bermudian Mr. Scott was referring to.

Mr. Scott said the PLP was "convinced'' there were enough Bermudians qualified to take charge of the US Base transition committee.

But Management Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons, who heads the airport takeover committee, stated Mr. Stubbings was "uniquely qualified'' to advise on the takeover of the base when the US Navy pulls out next year.

There was "nothing dishonest'' about the appointment, he said.

He added Mr. Stubbings, after his contract expired this year, had agreed to head-up Management Services for a few more months on a consultancy basis -- knowing he must return to Canada after the period is up.

"There is every possibility that his Management Services post will be Bermudianised upon his departure,'' Dr. Gibbons said.

"As head of that department, Mr. Stubbings is the Government's most senior and best qualified management and efficiency expert.

"His work has given him an unusually thorough knowledge of the workings of the Bermuda Government. These facts alone would suggest he and his department should be closely involved with taking over the services the US Navy are very soon going to cease providing.

"Mr. Stubbings also has extensive experience in the Canadian Air Force and with the Canadian Department of Public Works in navigation, management engineering, construction and maintenance of airport facilities -- the very subjects upon which we will be asking him to give advice.'' But Mr. Scott said the appointment was another indication Government was not following through on stated Bermudianisation policies.

"There is one reason only that Bermudians lost job share,'' he charged.

"In my view there was a deliberate policy, supported by the Minister and the UBP Government, which encouraged the replacement of Bermudians in the job market by non-Bermudians.'' Party research had shown that in 1982 there were 1,133 hotel jobs in the categories of waiters, chefs and maitre'ds, and 868 Bermudians doing the jobs.

In 1992 there were about the same number of jobs in the above categories, yet 148 fewer Bermudians (720) doing them -- while there were 140 more non-Bermudians.

"What happened in the ten-year period was that non-Bermudians gained jobs at the expense of Bermudians -- and fully qualified Bermudians continued to have the `devil of a time' to find a job in the local hotel industry,'' Mr. Scott said.

He noted the Island's "international quality hotel schools with the capacity to produce any skill base that is needed by the Bermuda hotel industry''.

But Mr. Dill, in a statement last night, said: "If Mr. Scott looks at the figures just a little more carefully, he will notice that despite movement out of one sector of employment -- for example the 148 fewer Bermudians in the hotel industry in 1992 -- there is not a corresponding increase in general Bermudian unemployment.

"If Bermudians are dwindling in numbers in some areas and they are not showing up in the unemployment bottom line, then surely the only answer is that they must be moving into other areas.'' Among those areas was finance and international business, the Minister said.