United Bermuda Party maverick Sanders Frith Brown yesterday challenged the official UBP candidate in the Paget East by-election to a public debate.

Mr. Frith Brown -- who plans to contest Paget East as "Independent UBP'' -- threw down the gauntlet to official United Bermuda Party candidate Kim Young in the battle for Sir John Swan's old seat on the eve of nomination day.

But he said: "I will be surprised if she accepts -- she has nothing to gain and I think I would show her up and the deficiencies in the United Bermuda Party.'' He added: "If she has anything to show, let her stand up and make a commitment to the community she wants to serve and not go off on flights of fancy like Sir John Swan and Grant Gibbons did over Independence and hamburgers.'' But last night Mrs. Young brushed off Mr. Frith Brown's challenge as a distraction from the major issues.

She said: "I'm not frightened to face him at all. But I'm busy seeing everyone in the constituency and I don't have time for that.'' Mrs. Young added: "I think he is going to have his following but I don't want to get involved in anything which will take me away from the real issues.'' Mr. Frith Brown said he had prepared two sets of nomination papers for submission today -- one as an Independent and one as an Independent UBP candidate, using the initials, but not the name, of the Government party.

Mr. Frith Brown said he and his lawyer had spoken to the Parliamentary Registrar's office and there appeared to be no barrier to standing under any name he liked.

But he added: "I would be interested to see if the UBP try and block me. I have my nomination papers and proposer and seconder.'' Mr. Frith Brown, a member of the Warwick West and East UBP branches, said when he announced he would stand in Paget East, that his move was a protest against machine politics and the party system.

He added yesterday that he felt not enough was being done to tackle drugs and the crime they caused or to stem the rising tide of problems in the schools.

And he pledged to take only half his Parliamentary salary if elected and to use the rest to pay for three children to be educated at the private Warwick Academy.

Mr. Frith Brown said: "I am hoping to embarrass these pumped up little toads of politicians.

"I can't lose if I can force the UBP to spend more time dealing with the issues they seem incapable of handling or are avoiding.'' Standing in Paget East in the May 6 by election are bookshop boss and former Women's Advisory Council chairman Mrs. Young, Craig Walls, a financial portfolio accountant, who is standing for the Opposition Progressive Labour Party and Mr. Frith Brown.

At the last by-election in Paget East -- in 1994 when Dr. Gibbons replaced the late John Stubbs -- the winning candidate took 605 of the 730 votes.

The PLP's Rolfe Commissiong picked up only 39 votes while the National Liberal Party's Geoff Parker notched up 73 supporters. Independent candidate Gershwyn Smith got three votes.

Nomination Day for the Devonshire South and Paget East by-elections will be held today.

Prospective candidates and their proposers or seconders must take the completed nomination papers in duplicate to the polling stations -- Christ Church Hall in Devonshire for Devonshire South and the Horticultural Hall in the Botanical Gardens for Paget East -- between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

A receipt for a deposit of $250 paid to the Accountant General must accompany the official nominations papers.

An advance poll will also be held on April 29 at Wesley Methodist Hall on Church Street for incapacitated voters and voters who plan to be off the Island on the day of the by-election, May 6.

PHTOO Sanders Frith Brown