bid to get control of operations that have grown beyond the management capacity of the organisation, Trust spokesmen said yesterday.

The group of six former Trust presidents was put together in the wake of the shock resignation last month of Trust director Mr. Alwyn McKittrick.

Although Mr. McKittrick's departure sparked the group's formation, insiders say the need for a wholesale review of the way the Trust conducted its business was long overdue.

They point out that the Trust budget and its responsibilities have grown massively in the past two decades while the basic management structure of a director and volunteer assistants remained virtually the same.

"We're very much like a teenager whose pants and shirt have become too short,'' one past president said. "It's time we got a new suit of clothes.

This is a very exciting era.'' Lt. Col. Darling, a two-time past president of the Trust, will head the team.

Yesterday, he too favoured the analogy of growth to justify its formation.

"We've grown out of childhood into an adult, a very big adult,'' he said. The group is tentatively scheduled to meet next week to clarify its terms of reference.

Lt. Col. Darling said it would "examine the structure of the Trust, the composition of its (governing) council, Trust staffing, all with a view to coming up with recommendations helpful to the future of the Trust.'' Interviews yesterday indicated Mr. McKittrick's departure from the Trust was a manifestation of the larger problem of the Trust being ill-equipped to deal with its vast responsibilities.

"I'm sure what has happened has probably made people stop, look and listen,'' one participant said. "It seems to me it was prompted by the McKittrick affair.'' When the Trust was formed 22 years ago, its staff consisted of a director and a secretary. In the intervening years, it took on an environmental officer and became the second largest land owner in Bermuda.

Its 22-strong staff help oversee operations that includes 200 acres of land, 62 buildings and a $1 million annual budget. Trust membership now stands at more than 4,000.

The Trust's advertisement last week for a new director is an indication of the increasing demands.

The detailed enumeration of eight substantive job requirements stood in stark contrast to the 1990 advertisement which led to the hiring of Mr. McKittrick.

The 1990 ad was vague on specific duties while simply stressing the need for an organised, alert manager with "leadership capabilities.'' Three weeks ago, the National Trust's council -- the body that governs its operations -- set up the review team.

"This is a business problem,'' Trust president Mrs. Patsy Phillips said yesterday. "The Trust's growth was overmatching its management structure.''