unhappy with the way Government spends their money.

That's the result of a survey in the Hon. Sir John Swan's constituency by the National Liberal Party.

But United Bermuda Party executive officer Mr. Joe Gibbons this week poured cold water on the poll, deriding parts of it as a "nonsense''.

He cast doubt on the survey's scientific value, and said the question on tax expenditure had been skewed.

Paget East constituents had been sent a questionnaire by NLP spokesman Mr.

Geoff Parker. They were asked about parochial and national concerns.

One question was: "Should Government continue to spend your tax money as it has done for the last five years?'' Eighty-four percent said "no'', and three percent "yes''. The rest had no opinion.

People were also asked whether Government was doing a good job on various fronts.

The outcome was: Economy (28 percent yes, 72 percent no); education (29 percent no, 71 percent yes); crime/drugs (32 percent yes, 68 percent no); and labour problems (20 percent yes, 80 percent no).

Only on the environment did Government score well, with 68 percent saying it was doing a good job.

Asked to put major concerns in priority, the economy topped the list, followed by education, crime and drugs, and labour problems.

Eighty-one percent, however, did not believe crime was a problem in their neighbourhood -- although 77 percent thought a neighbourhood watch scheme would be useful.

On garbage, there was a 50 percent split on those who thought the once-a-week delivery was acceptable.

And 81 percent supported the one day a week collection of recyclables.

The results of the April survey have now been returned to householders by Mr.

Parker.

"As a first effort I was pleased at the response which shows the dissatisfaction and unrest in the community,'' he writes.

But this week Mr. Gibbons said he was utterly unconvinced by the survey.

"I don't know how Mr. Parker polled, whom he polled, how many he polled, and how valuable the results are.

"I don't know whether he obtained professional help, or just sent the questionnaires through the post.'' Mr. Gibbons said a survey -- to be meaningful -- was a specialised and scientific business.

"There are lies, damned lies and statistics,'' he said.

He added the question on tax expenditure was a complete "nonsense'', because of the leading way it was phrased.

"It's like asking: `When are you going to start beating your wife?''' Mr. Gibbons also said it was wrong to extrapolate too much from a poll of national concerns in one constituency.

It may well be people in other constituencies had different worries.

Mr. Gibbons said the UBP carried out regular polls, which were professionally organised.

He added, however, such polling information was confidential.