, 1960-07-20
R 8 R 7
on
The Second Session Of the Third Legislature by the
President. Senator Walter I. M. Hodge

President Senator Walter !. IA. Hodge
tConLlnuea 1runI yeaLeI4ayl
While it is true that our greatest concern is for the
laborlng class and the workers Of these islands we were
also ever mindful of the commercial and Industrial inter
estS. whose businesses and activities have created job op
portunities for our people and contributed substantially
towards the economic growth OF these islands. For these
industries we have provided in the Budget under the De
partment of Trade and Industry sufficient money to star
d Promotion and Advertising campaign for the purpose Of
bringing more businesses and Industries to the islands ano
to help the industries such as the Tourist and Rum Indus
tries that has already contributed SO much towards the
economic and financial growth that we are now expert
encing. We also provided several Bills authorizing the
issuance Of almost E LILO DOLLARS in BONDS
to help build THREE Luxury Hotels in these islands, one
OF these. a 200 room Luxury Hotel, IS scheduled to De
built in ST. Croix and will be Of tremendous help to the
Tourist Program Of ST. Croix. We have also provided for
the establishment Of a New York Office tor the Depart
ment Of Trade and Industry to help in the direction OF
Tourist and Industrial Promotion for these islands. WE
HAVE GIVEN TO ALL PHASES OF
ISLAND ACTIVITY N GIVEN VERY CAREFUL
CONSIDERATION TO H PROBLEMS OF ALL
GROUPS.
This Session as provided for in the Organic Act is for
go DAYS. The Session was interrupted by several Legal
Holidays and Holy Days. We had to recess for almost a
full week during the Carnival at St. Thomas. However,
in spite of all Of this the Legislature found time to give
full consideration to all the Bills as you can see from the
record, and to take precious time out during the period OF
the emergency caused by torrentlal rains that created
flood conditions in St. Thomas, and which brought distress
and misery to hundreds of families, rendering many OF
them homeless. The Majority Bloc ever mindful Of its re-
sponsiblities to the people moved fast to bring aid & COM
fort to the stricken families and passed an emergency re-
lief fund to help the situation. The manner and the persis-
tent effort of the Majority Bloc led by the Unity Party
Senators in this direction should be applauded. I mention
this Just to show that in spite Of the pressure ofLegislative
Business, the interest Of the little people and their inter-
ests and problems we're foremost in our minds and actions.
There were several important proposals introduced by
the Governor that were not acted upon in this session.
There were important Bills such as the Zoning Law and
the Building Code and the Compulsory Insurance Law.
These Bills could not be dealt with at this time because Of
their complexity and due to 4 their political implications be-
fore a political campaign. This is an Election Year and al
ready there has been too much distortion of the facts by
the Minority Group Spokesman for purely Political Rea-
ouested the Governor to hold over these important Bills
until after the Election in November and at that time to
call "a Special Session to deal solely with these Three Bills.