education and Bermuda's environment during a lengthy motion to adjourn session on Friday.

Shadow Education Minister Miss Jennifer Smith said many parents of high school-leaving students were concerned that their children could not get into Bermuda College.

"This is not a condemnation of the college,'' she said. "They have the high standards they should have.'' But, she said, some students were graduating from high schools which did not teach traditional maths, English, and science -- courses which are required by any college.

And Miss Smith said the college's upgrading programme, which is designed to prepare students for college, was now only offered at night.

"This leaves a problem to someone who has a 16-year-old,'' Miss Smith said.

"They will have nothing to do during the day while they pursue upgrading their skills at night.

"We cannot just hand our students a diploma that we know will not get them into our own college, the competitive job market, or a school abroad.'' Miss Smith called for the Education Ministry to develop a programme which would offer school leavers a means of upgrading their skills during the day.

Education Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons said Bermuda College's upgrading programme was now being held at night because a close evaluation of the programme revealed "it was not serving its purpose.'' "Students were to stay in the programme and then enter the college's certificate or diploma, mainly certificate programmes,'' he said. "But very few students made that transition.'' He said the Ministry was trying to respond to this problem by looking at having some summer courses, run by the Community Education School, offered during the day; supporting the Adult Education School; and allowing students to repeat the last year of high school.

Shadow Tourism Minister Mr. David Allen denied suggestions that he was only urging Government to join the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) because he was being "heavily lobbied'' by the CTO.

"I am aware of the CTO's good, influential work on regional tourism,'' he said. "I know of the benefits of joining the CTO and it is because of that I encourage the (Tourism) Minister to join. But certainly no one has lobbied me.'' Calling Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge "Rip Van Woolridge,'' Mr. Allen said there was no reason why Bermuda should network with its neighbours in the Caribbean.

"To simply say those are developing countries and we aren't, glosses over the issue,'' he said, adding that the US networks with developing countries such as Mexico.

Mr. Allen also said Government should consider having Bermudians, particularly students in the college's Department of Hotel and Technology, working on cruise ships.

"In the fifties and sixties a lot of Bermudians did work on ships like the Queen of Bermuda ,'' he said. "This has vanished over the years.'' Mr. Woolridge said his Ministry will "carefully'' look at joining the CTO.

But, he said, "at the moment I see no real benefit of joining the CTO, even though we do as much as possible to assist them.'' Shadow Health and Social Services Minister Mr. Nelson Bascome said he was "very upset and emotionally torn'' when he saw parade participants on the Keep Bermuda Beautiful float with T-shirts reading "Don't Mess Around, Join the UBP.'' "This incensed every individual that has assisted the KBB,'' he said. "How can we talk about tackling issues of national interest and throw it into the political arena.'' Mr. Bascome also expressed concern for senior citizens who have to travel distances to pick up medication at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital's clinic.

He said not only was travelling to the hospital frustrating, but also the system of picking up the prescription once they get there.

Noting the resignation of Bermuda Housing Corporation's American general manager Mr. Tom Wall, Mr. Bascome said he hoped that a Bermudian would fill the position. He said a Bermudian should also fill the Prison Commissioner's job when Mr. Milton Pringle retires.

PLP MPs Mr. Julian Hall and Mr. Stanley Morton both expressed concern about the litter left at Bernard Park and areas of Hamilton after Bermuda Day activities.

Mr. Hall said Bermudians must move away from "the knee-jerk Bermudian action'' of throwing litter down without thinking.

"We join in the call that Bermuda people get in the habit of placing trash where it belongs,'' he said. "But Government has to make it as easy as possible for Bermudians to get into that habit.'' Mr. Morton suggested that organisers of such events should have people assigned to continual clean up duties during the activities.

Mr. Simons said while the schools were doing everything possible to make students environmentally sensitive, KBB could place recycling bins at such functions so that aluminium cans could be collected on the spot.

Mr. Hall also praised Independent MP Mr. Stuart Hayward for planning to attend the Earth Summit as an observer.

But, he said, he deeply regretted Bermuda Government's refusal to send a representative to the summit.

He pointed out that one of the PLP's founders, Mr. Roosevelt Brown, was one of the organisers of the event in Brazil.

Community and Cultural Affairs Minister the Hon. Leonard Gibbons said Mr.

Morton's complaint that the PLP wasn't invited to official events simply wasn't true. "I have checked that all honourable members of this House were invited to every function put on during Heritage Month ... attendance was dismal, to say the least.'' Bermudians' diverse heritage was one of their strengths, he said. But he was pleased last Sunday to see blacks watching the fitted dinghy races -- a traditionally white past-time -- and to note that groups as diverse as the Bermuda Industrial Union, an international company and the Portuguese Association presented trophies for last weekend's Gombey competition.

Many MPs had made complaints about the parade, he said: There was too much trash, too many delays and it was too long. "But people had fun,'' he said.

"...I think it was a great success, and I thank all Bermudians for making it so.'' Mr. Eugene Blakeney (PLP) said he was concerned that a successor for Prisons Commissioner Mr. Milton Pringle, scheduled to retire in August, has yet to be named. He urged the Minister to choose someone from within the Prison Service and not choose a foreigner.

Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade urged Government and the public to give black American single-handed round-the-world sailor Mr. Bill Pinkney a proper send-off when he leaves the Island today.

Mr. Pinkney, whose boat Commitment is berthed at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, was one of the first blacks to sail around the world by himself. He honoured Bermuda by making it the beginning and end of his trip -- and has brought Bermuda much free international publicity, including film coverage from New York's Channel 5 television station.

Bermuda should have marked his arrival with a flotilla of small craft and tugboats spraying water. It did not. The least the Island could do, he said, was to show its hospitality and friendliness when he leaves.

Health & Social Services Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness said fears that the next Prisons Commissioner would come from overseas were unfounded.

"Government has never, never indicated that it would have any intention of looking outside Bermuda for a commissioner,'' he said. "Government has every intention of seeking to replace the commissioner with a Bermudian, and obviously the men and women who have come up through the ranks would certainly be among the candidates.'' Mr. Edness said he realised a "series of unfortunate incidents'' over the last year have caused the community to lose some confidence in the prisons.

But he was sure that confidence would be restored.

St. George's North MP Mr. Phillip Smith (UPB) said that the annual Marathon Derby be run, in alternate years, from St. George's to Hamilton instead of just from Somerset as it is now. He wondered if Somerset was the start of the big road race because its organisers were from the western end.

He appealed again for a second bridge, in addition to the Swing Bridge which was briefly stuck open two weeks ago, linking St. George's with the rest of Bermuda.

The bridge across the mouth of Ferry Reach, as frequently suggested by NLP Leader Mr. Gilbert Darrell, would have the additional advantage of bypassing troublesome Longbird Bridge. "At least a study should be done.'' Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan said it was hardly surprising that litter was left behind after the Bermuda Day parade. Even if garbage cans were placed every 20 feet, he said, people were packed so closely along the parade route that they couldn't have reached them. Perhaps people need to bring their own bags to hold garbage.

But it's just one day in the year, he said. "It's just a big party that we call a parade. I forgive all the people of Bermuda for what took place. But they had a good time.'' Sir John agreed that the upcoming Earth Summit in Brazil was a very important event dealing with a very important subject -- but did not agree that Bermuda should send a representative to the environmental conference and treaty-signing.

"It's great for cosmetics, it's great for saying you attended the conference.'' But a small delegation at a giant conference has the problem of missing some meetings while attending others, learning too little and having too little impact.

But Government had arranged to get the material, the reports, resolutions and other records of the proceedings, and would go over it. It had also arranged for the British delegation to come through Bermuda on its way home.

Replying to Mr. Bascome's criticism of the UBP's "Don't Mess Around'' T-shirt slogan, Sir John said both the KBB and the UBP were calling for involvement and take responsibility. "Don't Mess Around'' was a common Bermuda expression for that; the KBB had no copyright.

He urged all Bermudians to get involved and take responsibility. Many have been hurt by recession, from those at the back of town to Front Street businessmen. But the tourist season had begun, and he urged all Bermudians to do what they could to "uplift our country, and uplift our guests... so that the world will see us as a country that was able to weather the storm.''