1.   Peter Mann, principal educational adviser to Dorset County Council, is clearly one of the optimists.

2.   The clerk to the local authority was the principal legal adviser and, therefore, invariably a lawyer.

3.   The principal adviser said that the advisers could only comment on what they had seen - or not seen.

4.   At the same time we spoke to the director and the principal adviser.

5.   The heads of department and heads of year discussed the draft report initially and a meeting of all staff with the director and principal adviser was also arranged.

6.   At this meeting the director, the principal adviser, the head and forty-three of the staff were present.

7.   The principal adviser said that the advisers could only comment on what they had seen -- or not seen.

8.   For years the firm was generally known as the principal legal adviser for the Mellon banking interests.