party's eighth straight election defeat on October 5, Opposition Leader Mr.

Frederick Wade said yesterday.

But Mr. Hall, who was defeated in Hamilton West along with Mr. Eugene Blakeney, "should not be made the scapegoat,'' Mr. Wade told The Royal Gazette . "I've told him so.'' And Mr. Hall's absence from the list of PLP Senators was "not related'' to unhappiness over the loss of his seat, which was blamed partly on poor constituency work.

While it was "naturally true'' that some blamed the outspoken lawyer for the PLP defeat, "it wasn't only Mr. Hall who lost,'' Mr. Wade said. "It was also 17 other people who didn't win seats.'' In the wake of the 22-18 result, "we have asked all of our candidates, including Mr. Hall, to work along with the party in the constituencies to make sure that we capture those two seats (in Hamilton West), and that we get the three seats we need to win,'' Mr. Wade added.

Monthly canvassing was among the plans for the programme, called A New Beginning.

The Senate appointments -- Mr. Terry Lister, Mr. Milton Scott, and Ms Neletha Butterfield -- were intended "to project new people who we expect to be leaders of tomorrow''.

PLP campaign co-chairman Sen. Lister's description of Mr. Hall's and Mr.

Eugene Blakeney's losses in Hamilton West as "unforgivable'' carelessness was "unfortunate,'' Mr. Wade added.

However, Sen. Lister, "as campaign co-chairman, would have intimate knowledge of what was happening,'' he said.

Plans for a PLP victory were based on sweeping the four Warwick seats and taking a seat in St. George's South, Mr. Wade said. "We knew from our own evaluation that Hamilton West was being very hard fought.'' Meanwhile, Mr. Wade said recent comments that Mr. Hall made to The Times of London about Independence were consistent with PLP policy.

Mr. Hall told The Times a PLP Government would "educate the people about why we should be Independent.'' Once that was done, "we would then call another election to give us a mandate for Independence.'' Asked if those comments reflected PLP policy, Mr.

Wade said: "That's pretty much it.'' "We would never go to Independence without giving Bermudians an opportunity to make a decision about it.'' As for educating Bermudians about why the Island "should be independent,'' Mr. Wade said "a lot of mis-education has gone on.'' It was once reported that Fidel Castro would invade an Independent Bermuda. And the cost of Independence had been exaggerated, he said.

"People are just frightened to death of Independence.'' A poll showed 80 percent of Bermudians opposed any quick move toward Independence.