pointless PR stunt and another expense to the taxpayer, Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons claimed yesterday.

He said the 20 page document, distributed to Bermuda's 30,000 or so homes, told "only half the story''.

Dr. Gibbons said: "This really isn't communication. It's propaganda and perhaps what is most interesting is what's not reported.'' He added: "One of the things I noticed is that Premier Jennifer Smith says that they have been fully occupied in the past 500 days.

"From our perspective, the only thing they have been fully occupied with was travel.'' And Dr. Gibbons said: "I guess, in essence, we really wonder what the purpose of this is and if the money couldn't have been better spent on scholarships or assisting people with house rentals.'' Dr. Gibbons added: "Some of the things not mentioned are that tourism in 1999 was in even worse decline than had previously happened.

"Government effectively spent an additional $5.7 million over the previous year and managed to get 10,000 fewer visitors.

"Tourism has continued to decline. The last figures for February show a decrease of nine percent and that isn't reflected either.'' Gibbons slams report "The report also doesn't mention that, as far as the community is concerned, taxes on individuals and businesses have gone up appreciably and the cost of doing business has increased considerably.'' And he added that the Island's foreign exchange position had started to deteriorate "for the first time in probably six years''.

Dr. Gibbons said: "And the report does not address the fact that the PLP Government has not closed any of the hotel deals out there -- the Marriott hasn't been closed, the new Hamilton hotel hasn't been closed.

"The only thing which has proceeded is the development at Daniel's Head -- which was well underway when the PLP took office.'' Dr. Gibbons added: "In fact, a lot of it has been in the works for a long time and goes back to the previous Government.'' And he said: "The report also does not refer to the fact that business confidence, on the local side and the international side, is at an all-time low as a result of new work permit regulations and the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality regulations.'' And he said Government had failed to come good on promises to build 50 or 100 new homes.

Dr. Gibbons launched the blistering attack after the 500 Days summary was posted out across the Island.

The document -- similar to a 100 Days document issued last year -- splits up the various Government Ministries and details highlights of Government's programme so far.

But Dr. Gibbons insisted: "From our perspective this is an expensive and fairly useless exercise for the tax-paying public.

"Although Government would like to feel it's communication, it's certainly not transparent and really only tells half the story.

"The other thing which concerns me is that the last exercise cost over $26,000 and that didn't include a lot of the in-house costs borne by Government Information Services, which produced it.'' Dr. Gibbons added that Government's legislative programme also did not bear close examination with key laws like the CURE regulations on race reporting in the workplace being stalled in the Upper House.

He said: "The legislative agenda has been marked by a significant number of key pieces of legislation being blocked in the Senate.

"They tried to run them through without either appropriate consultation or careful preparation.''