new world order was coming, from being included with Independence mail.

The Post Office was contracted to deliver 25,000 copies of "Herald of Truth'' to households in Bermuda.

At the same time it is also delivering tens of thousands of mail relating to Independence, but some postmen were putting all the letters into the same envelope, making it appear the newsletter was coming from the Government.

The newsletter is from a religious group in America and has a headline: "Earth's Final Warning: A New World Order is Coming''.

Last night Postmaster General, Mr. Clevelyn Crichlow, said: "We were asked to deliver these newsletters as well as the Independence mail.

"But instead of delivering three or four pieces of mail, some postmen decided to slip the paper and other letters into one large envelope. It looked like the Government was sending out a religious document.'' It first came to light yesterday afternoon and was immediately stopped. Mr.

Crichlow said only a few newsletters had gone out and in the future all would be delivered separately.

Meanwhile, next week's Independence referendum has caused a mail rush of Christmas proportions.

Mr. Crichlow said yesterday he would be forced to pay workers overtime to handle a last minute deluge of more than 100,000 pieces of mail.

"This would compare to one of our Christmas days -- like if everyone brought all their Christmas cards in at one time,'' Mr. Crichlow said as he surveyed boxes of letters waiting to be sorted in the General Post Office.

Included in the mail was tens of thousands of letters from the UBP (United Bermuda Party) Group Against Independence Now and 18,000 copies of Government's Compendium of Position Papers on Independence, mailed by Government Information Services.

Independence referendum. From left, Assistant Postmaster General (East) Mr.

Derek Dillas and mail handlers Mrs. Mary Smith, Miss Suzanne Simons, and Mrs.

Carol-Ann Burrows.