night as MPs clashed over the ruling Progressive Labour Party's sky-high travel expenses.

And Premier Jennifer Smith (PLP) defended her Government's trips abroad as necessary to the Island's interests.

Ms Smith -- with her Chief of Staff David Burch -- logged a whopping $5000-a-week travel bill in the first two months of the financial year.

But she insisted: "Ministers of the new Government have found it necessary to travel overseas a number of times since we took office in November.

"There is no need to apologise for having done so, not least because these trips overseas were necessary trips for Ministers to meet their counterparts overseas, to take part in conferences and meetings, and to bring ourselves fully up to speed on those areas and issues which impact on our various portfolio responsibilities.'' The total travel bill for Ministers over the first two months of the financial year was $91,000 -- out of a total annual Cabinet Office travel budget of $140,000. Tourism has a separate travel fund.

And since last November, more than $173,000 has been spent on travel overseas.

Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons (UBP) said after Ms Smith's statement: "The point is we're not complaining about the mode of travel or travel itself.

"What we're essentially concerned about is the length of travel, the cost of travel and the number of people who travel.'' And he added: "The sense I get from members of the public is that they think it's excessive too.'' Ms Smith pointed out that some of the travel -- like the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and meetings with international watchdogs clamping down on offshore jurisdictions -- "relates to a pattern of travel long established by the former Government''.

Ms Smith spoke out a week after Dr. Gibbons tabled a series of questions on the cost of PLP travel since its November victory at the polls.

Ms Smith added that statements on all her trips had been made to the House of Assembly.

But Dr. Gibbons countered: "Clearly, travel is no substitute for substance and productivity on behalf of the taxpayer.

"We haven't had any real, detailed feedback on what they have got out of these trips, whether it be the UK or the World Economic Forum -- we've been getting a bit of a travelogue instead.'' And he dismissed claims by Ms Smith that concerns over travel bills were "groundless''.

Dr. Gibbons said: "When you have a budget which they're exceeding by a factor of four times in the first two months of the fiscal year, the public ought to be concerned about that.'' Ms Smith said Washington had been visited in the long-running bid to get the US to clean up its old Island baselands.

She added: "Moreover, there has additionally been travel by myself to support marketing efforts overseas by both the Ministry of Tourism and the Bermuda International Business Association.'' And Ms Smith said: "I promise the Opposition as, indeed, I promise my colleagues on this side of the House, that this Government will be as meticulous in its official travel as it is in all other matters.'' Dr. Grant Gibbons