the US after successful brain surgery, his deputy said yesterday.

Acting Cabinet Secretary Mr. Leo Mills said the May 22 operation at the Pittsburgh University School of Medicine in Pennsylvania went remarkably well.

Mr. Richardson was moved from the intensive care unit to a general ward just 24 hours after surgeons removed the benign tumour. He checked out of hospital on Monday, but is still receiving outpatient treatment.

Mr. Richardson, who is accompanied by his wife and two children, is doing "a lot of walking,'' Mr. Mills said. "There doesn't appear to be any difficulties with memory loss or anything like that.'' "If he continues to progress at the rate he has been doing, then it's a reasonable expectation that he will be well enough to return to Bermuda in another week or two to continue his recuperation,'' Mr. Mills said.

Mr. Richardson, Bermuda's top-ranking Civil Servant, underwent surgery to remove a brain tumour in 1988. He had one kidney removed in 1990 after another tumour was discovered during a routine medical test.

He was admitted to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital on May 16 for tests after feeling unwell, and he was flown to the US three days later.