decision to order the retrial of an alleged drug importer, it emerged this week.

The case involving Cromwell Miles Manders has since been discontinued by the Attorney General's chambers.

Last June Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice (Austin) Ward jailed Manders for five years for importing cannabis.

He also handed down further jail terms, to run concurrently, for possessing cannabis and conspiring to import it. Manders denied all the charges.

The amount of cannabis alleged to have been brought into Bermuda was 622.1 grams, valued at more than $31,000.

The convictions, however, were quashed last November on appeal, and a retrial ordered. This week the appeal judges explained their decision.

They said Mr. Ward made a legal error by directing the jury that certain evidence should be treated as corroborative -- when it was not.

The appeal judges said the "bits and pieces'' of evidence were of no real importance.

CANNABIS COST CHEF HIS JOB CTS Cannabis cost chef his job A former chef on the cruise ship Meridian was fined $700 yesterday after cannabis weighing 9.56 grams was found in his cabin.

Max Henri Bichot, a Frenchman, has since lost his job and is now unemployed, Magistrates' Court heard.

The drug was found on April 29 when the ship was at King's Port, Sandys, Insp.

Peter Duffy, prosecuting, said.

Cannabis seeds comprised 5.45 grams of the haul, he added.

Bichot yesterday admitted possessing the cannabis and a pipe used for smoking it.

Mr. Henry Prasad, defending, said the drug was for Bichot's own use.

"He is very sorry he caused trouble for the authorities. He has now lost his job with the cruise ship.'' Mr. Prasad said Bichot would be leaving the Island on Monday.

NO SMOKE WITHOUT FINE CTS No smoke without fine A Hamilton Parish man was fined $150 yesterday for stealing two cartons of cigarettes worth $60 from the Market Place at Shelly Bay.

Swayne Gibbons, 24, pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court to two counts of theft.

Insp. Peter Duffy, prosecuting, said the incident occurred at closing time on March 2.

It was reported to the Police by the store's assistant manager Mr. Michael Madeiros.

WELL KNOWN ARTIST DIES IN US OBT Well known artist dies in US Mr. Earl Pringle, a prize-winning wartime artist and successful interior designer of homes in the US and Bermuda died last month of cancer. He was 70.

Mr. Pringle, of New Rochelle, New York, served in the US Army in the Second World War as an officer in the Historic Survey Unit and immortalised the battlefield sufferings on Okinawa, one of the fiercest battles in the Pacific.

His charcoal drawings won best in show at an exhibition in the United Nations in the 1970s and some of his architectural drawings are on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.

A successful designer of residential and commercial interiors until the time of his death, he worked in the US, Bermuda, the Caribbean and Africa. Some of his work in Bermuda includes the original interior of the John Swan Ltd.

building, the interiors of the Somerset Bridge Hotel, the Somerset Cricket Club and the Bermuda Triangles Club and the homes of Mr. Arnold Francis, Senate President the Hon. Albert Jackson, Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan, former Deputy Premier the Hon. Clarence James and Mr. Leon Nearon.

Somerset Bridge Hotel owner Mr. Walter Roberts, MP, said Mr. Pringle was a very talented artist and interior designer "who had been a friend and advisor to a lot of Bermudians over the past 20 years.'' Mr. Pringle is survived by his wife Lillian and daughters Linda and Mrs.

Michele Webb.