Nations in New York to tell officials why Bermuda should go it alone.

He plans to criticise Britain for ducking its responsibilities and accuse politicians of deliberately changing the Island's racial mix.

Mr. Brown, chairman of the Committee for the Independence of Bermuda, has asked to speak at a UN meeting on "decolonisation''.

UN officials are preparing recommendations they hope will become UN resolutions this fall.

Mr. Brown said he had not been able to make an earlier UN meeting because he was only given a day's notice. But he was hoping for another invitation.

He planned to tell the meeting that Britain had not complied with its UN responsibilities, including a duty to give Bermudians information on independence so they could make a decision.

He would also raise "manipulation of racial groupings for political purposes'' in the Island, which was against UN rules.

In the 1960s there was an "orchestrated campaign'' to bring in British people to offset "black dominance'', he said.

"We believe that the issues are important and have not been addressed by the British Government and the Bermuda Government.'' He said the Bermuda Government has been invited to attend UN meetings, but always declines.

"I think they just don't wish to have themselves publicly associated with this.'' Mr. Brown said his group has the support of about 40 percent of the population.

At meetings last week, members of the UN decolonisation sub-committee on small territories discussed a Royal Gazette telephone poll in 1988. This showed 80 percent of Bermudians were against independence, they were told.

Chairman Mr. Amor Ardhaui, of Tunisia, said the poll was not very scientific and could not be taken seriously. He suggested more information could be sought, since the UN had never sent a visiting mission to Bermuda.

Secretary Mr. Nour Driss said such a team could only visit at the invitation of the "administering power''.

The main reason there was no visit to Bermuda was that the power concerned had not sought it, he said.

Chilean member Mr. Jose Ovalle said they could seek permission for a visit and place the guilt on the administering power when permission was not granted.

The sub-committee also heard of the "extraordinarily high number'' of prisoners in Bermuda.

Mr. Cheick Diarra, from Mali, asked whether a race relations division had been set up in the Island's justice system to deal with "perceived racial and class discrimination''.

Mr. Ovalle raised the topic of "significant unemployment'' in Bermuda.

UN decolonisation officials have been under fire for inefficiency. According to an official account of a subcommittee meeting, Mr. Stanislaus Mongella of Tanzania "expressed concern at the reported closure of two schools in Bermuda because some of the students are allegedly involved in delinquency and crime''.

The account also refers to Bermuda as a "Caribbean country''.