The official auditor of Government finances yesterday called for his independence to be guaranteed.

And Auditor Larry Dennis said the way to underline his autonomy could be to make the service a `quango' -- a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation.

In a report on the Auditor's role tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday, Mr. Dennis said the independence of his role was "a serious matter''.

"In Bermuda, we really have to decide whether we are only going to pay lip service...or whether the issue is important to our democratic system, with its attendant issues of accountability and independence, and make the adjustments necessary,'' he said.

Staffing and salary levels at the Audit Office are overseen by a special Parliamentary select committee -- not Government.

Mr. Dennis said the Auditor's office was not a Government department -- although he added Ministries treated it like one.

And he said the Public Service Commission's powers of employment and discipline over the Civil Service continued to be exercised over the Office of the Auditor.

He said: "Establishing the Audit Office as a quango might be a better way of achieving the independence in fact for the Auditor than forcing the various Commissions, Boards, Panels, Departments and Ministries to accommodate a process they obviously feel uncomfortable with.'' Mr. Dennis added it had been anticipated six years ago that regulations to establish the Auditor in a position similar to the Commissioner of Police's authority over the Police Service would have been passed.

He stressed that the Public Service Commission had acted with "sensitivity'' and accepted all recommendations made by the Auditor.

And he said the Minister of Finance had not refused any significant request from the Office of the Auditor.

But Mr. Dennis said: "The Ministry appears to ignore the Committee's role in the budget process and the Auditor is forced by circumstances to argue his own case to the Ministry.

"It could very well be a transitional problem, but the Ministry of Finance will need to become more sensitive to the role of the Select Committee in respect of the budget of the Office of the Auditor if independence of the Auditor is to be achieved in fact.'' The Auditor added another route to independence could be to take up a 1987 suggestion by the late PLP leader Frederick Wade and place funding for his job -- already an Office of the Crown -- in the hands of Governor Lord Waddington.