Opposition MP Mr. Stanley Morton has taken over as Shadow Minister of Works, Engineering, Parks and Housing.

And yesterday he wasted no time in blasting Government for raising public housing rents and not taking the presence of asbestos in some of its buildings "more seriously''.

Mr. Morton -- who replaced Mr. Walter Roberts who resigned due to "business pressures'' -- said as a team player he welcomed the challenge and opportunity of joining the PLP Shadow Cabinet at "this very important and exciting time in the Party's history''.

"This Ministry has the responsibility of over $100 million of capital works and I take very seriously my role as `watch-dog' of the public purse,'' he said.

"Of equal importance, if not more so, is the fact that under the Saul administration, Housing is now included along with Parks. I wish it to be known that, in my view, in recent times Government has lost its way in assisting the people with the greatest housing needs.

"It is both unbelievable and unacceptable that Government should now talk about raising the rents of Bermudians who are hurting, up to market value.

"Government's decision to raise the rents -- by as much as 12 percent -- of those people with most need runs directly counter to the data presented in Dr.

Dorothy K. Newman's report "Bermuda's Stride Toward The Twenty-First Century'' which was published by the Bermuda Government Statistical Department.'' In that report Dr. Newman, an American socio-economist who compiled 11 years of statistics, noted that there was a substantially larger percentage of poor black households, than white.

Mr. Morton also criticised Government's handling of asbestos found in the roof of its Sandhurst apartment building off the Old Military Road in St. George's.

Some residents at the building expressed concerns about the asbestos.

But after an inspection by the Health Department last week, Bermuda Housing Corporation and health officials said there was no cause for alarm as long as the building's roof remained stable and was not disturbed by any process which would cause the roof to break into dust particles.

"While I would agree that it only becomes dangerous when you tamper with it,'' Mr. Morton said, "Government adopted a policy that they would eliminate asbestos over a period of time from any of their properties.

"Government should have come to an end of that project by now.'' The longer Government left asbestos in its properties, the worse it would become, Mr. Morton claimed.

And he suggested that Government move swiftly to address "this problem''.

"Someone innocently may find they have to correct something (on an asbestos roof) and unknowingly disturb it,'' Mr. Morton added.

"Suppose a hurricane comes and tears off a roof of one of these buildings.

During the emergency no one is going to stop to think about whether the roof is contaminated.

"Government should have a more serious and urgent attitude about this.'' But when contacted yesterday, Works and Engineering, Parks and Housing Minister the Hon. Leonard Gibbons said as far as he knew all dangerous asbestos had been removed or encapsulated.