in the 1960's -- was voted out of the House of Assembly.

And while the idea was backed by the Opposition in principle, they voted against it.

And Government has promised that a review is taking place of the present system of Government-selected parish councils.

The call for a return to the parish vestries was made by NLP Leader Mr.

Gilbert Darrell .

He said parish vestries were democratic systems which only the Government was opposed to because opposition vestries could make life difficult.

He said that they should never have been scrapped and many people had voiced their support for a return of an elected local government.

Mr. Darrell said: "There needs to be participation democracy and this is one way of doing it. We need to have people participating in Government and we need to get back to the belief that the Country belongs to the people of Bermuda and not the UBP government.'' The NLP member said that he had received little help from the Attorney General in drawing up the scheme, but Minister of Delegated Affairs the Hon. Sir John Sharpe (UBP) said they could not consider every "harebrained'' scheme.

Sir John pointed out that the original parish vestries had authority to assess property values, set tax rates and raise taxes to pay for poor relief.

"Overall the poorest parishes were paying the most towards social assistance and the more prosperous parishes the least,'' he said.

"By this time we had a land tax and a system of national assessment, hence the reason behind the abolition of parish vestries was basically that the tax burden for poor relief would be spread across the Country.

"The view was that since the new parish councils were obliged to work under and with the national government, they should be appointed by the Government.

"It would be incompatible to have one party in power nationally and another elected locally with conflicting demands and likely disharmony between the two.'' Opposition Leader Mr. Freddie Wade (PLP) said that he was flattered by the raising of a PLP idea by Mr. Darrell, but he said it was not complete.

He said he could not support the motion without understanding how the parish vestry members would be elected.

He said: "I believe there is a place for local government. It brings people into contact with problems facing the community. It also serves to knit the community together.

"The central collection of taxes is more efficient than the old way but we could allocate funds to the parish to distribute.'' He accused the Government of arrogance in how they used the Attorney General's experts to draft legislation. He said that system should be made available in Parliament for every MP.

Minister of Works the Hon. Clarence Terceira (UBP) said the previous system had caused disparities between collection of taxes and distribution of funds.

A former chairman of the Southampton Vestry, Dr. Terceira said: "I believe the care of the needy today is far superior to what it was.'' Shadow Finance Minister Mr. Eugene Cox (PLP) said he had been chosen as overseer of the poor in Devonshire South when he was first elected to the Devonshire Vestry in 1967.

He said he believed a return of the parish vestries would be a good training ground for young parliamentarians and could take some issues away from MPs.

Shadow Health Minister and Social Services Mr. Nelson Bascome (PLP) said he had been worried by a number of controversies that had arisen concerning the Government-selected parish councils.

Mr.

Bascome was worried over the reports of misappropriation of funds that had come to his knowledge.

Health and Social Services Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness asked Mr. Bascome to pass on any information to him.

Mr. Edness confirmed he has been carrying out a review of the parish council system and said: "I think they are doing a good job but there is potential for them to do a better job.'' Shadow Minister of Community Affairs Mr. Reginald Burrows (PLP) said the parish council system is undemocratic because it consists of 98 percent of UBP party members and `hacks' and two percent of people from that particular parish.

Mr. Stuart Hayward (Ind) asked that Mr. Darrell's motion be put into the review. He said a return to the parish vestry system would add a more community and family level to local government.

Mr. Darrell said: "There is absolutely nothing wrong with this idea unless you happen to be in government.'' He blasted the PLP leader for claiming that a return to parish vestries was their idea. Mr. Darrell said: "Anything Gilbert Darrell brings up seems to come from the PLP. But if they feel so strongly about it why don't they do what I do and put it on the floor of this House?'' Mr. Darrell asked why Mr. Edness had started a review without telling the House of Assembly.

Only he voted in favour of his motion which was lost.