Government plans to raze a squatter's shack to the ground, making way for a proposed park at Mill Creek were temporarily halted yesterday.

At the last hour, minutes before bulldozers were expected to move in, lawyer Mr. Julian Hall arrived on the scene requesting a freeze on plans to demolish the building.

Mr. Hall told Agriculture, Fisheries & Parks director Mr. John Barnes that papers had been filed and he requested Government's original-24 hour grace period due to end at 1 p.m. yesterday, be extended another two hours until the matter came before a judge.

A few hours later Government was served with a temporary injunction in Magistrates' Court barring them from entering the disputed two-acre plot.

Mr. Hall's client, Mr. William Bascome, claims he has occupied the plot for 28 years and has full rights to the land.

"This is an almost draconian action by the Ministry,'' Mr. Hall said. "Using bulldozers to move my client without reference to court process is the wrong way to go about it. We used to do it that way a long time ago but not now.'' Mr. Bascome was told to vacate last year when the Environment Minister indicated his decision to turn the area into a park, Mr. Hall said.

But he said the Minister never went to court and Mr. Bascome has been waiting for legal action to be taken.

"It is a situation in which my client has been in occupation of this land and has been regarded by all as the owner of the land. Common law right of ownership is not uncommon in Bermuda,'' Mr. Hall said.

"My client says it's his property and it is important to take the appropriate court action.'' He added Mr. Bascome believed the Ministry would obtain a formal court order before attempting to and he would be in a position of defence to show he owned the property.'' Clearing of the property has been abandoned until the matter goes to Supreme Court in a week's time. But according to Mr. Bascome, the real battle will begin when he takes up his case in the courts.

"I wouldn't say I was relieved,'' he said yesterday. "I still have to go through the courts over this.'' But he joked that Government had done a good job clearing up his yard. On Tuesday, truckloads of debris and foliage were removed from the site.

Livestock including cows, chickens and a bull were also taken.

But director of the SPCA Shelter Mr. Louis Ray emphasised it was Government, not the SPCA, who took the animals.

The SPCA has offered temporary housing for the bull and is overseeing the operation to ensure the animals are not maltreated, he said.

The last minute injunction averted a confrontation between Agriculture & Fisheries employees and the squatters who warned they would resist if Government tried to remove the shack.

But yesterday the tone was more moderate.

Another squatter who keeps his horses on an adjacent plot said the principle issue was the protection of the land.

Tracts of the Pembroke property bordering the aptly named Controversy Lane in Pembroke have been in dispute since the 1930s.

In May last year four squatters on land south of the property won the right to occupy property belonging to the late Mr. William Chiappa and Mr. Lawrence Chiappa.

But assistant director of Agriculture and Fisheries Mr. William Cook said the Ministry had been given the green light by the Attorney General's Chambers to clear the property.

"It's park land and he (Bascome) has to go. Government has clear title to it,'' he said.

Mr. Cook said the British Admiralty ceded the disputed land to Government in 1954. An additional three acres were purchased in 1983 for $100,000.

Government is now in the process of creating a 8.2 acre park overlooking Mill Creek.

The plans for the park expected to be completed this year, were approved at a public meeting and later by the Parks Commission and the Environment Minister.