Agriculture and Parks Department for a lack of progress in the four years since he left the post.

He was particularly critical of the dropping of the horticulture apprenticeship scheme and the state of the Botanical Gardens.

Mr. Phillips, who returned to Bermuda as a judge for the Agricultural Exhibition, said it was "shortsighted'' of the Department to scrap the apprenticeship scheme, which he founded in 1977. He also said it was a let-down to find no new plants upon visiting the Botanical Gardens. Full story -- Community, Page 27.