July 3rd To Be Observed As A Public Holiday
Monday July 3rd, 2000 will be observed as a public holiday in lieu of Territory Day on Saturday July 1st, it has been announced here. Chief Minister the Honourable Ralph T. O'Neal explained to Reporters Monday, during his regular press conference, why the BVI observes this day as a public holiday. According to him, the British Virgin Islands were at one time a part of the Leeward Islands Colony, which consisted of Antigua, Barbuda, Redonda, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla and the Virgin Islands. Dominica was also involved at some stage, but was transferred to the Windward Islands in 1940. In preparation for the West Indies Federation, the Leeward Islands Colony that had a Governor stationed in Antigua, had to be abolished, so that the separate presidencies could go into the wider Federation. "The BVI, in their wisdom, kept out of the Federation. The Federation was to come into being in 1958, so the Leeward Islands Colony was abolished 1st of July 1956, and the Virgin Islands became a separate colony ruled directly by the Commonwealth Office, as it was then called," the Chief Minister recalled. He said because the BVI broke away from the Leeward Islands and did not participate in the West Indies Federation, the Legislators of the day decided that the 1st of July should be celebrated as a public holiday and be called Colony Day. That name changed with the times and is now called Territory Day. "As far as I am concerned, that day, the 1st of July, will always be a holiday," Hon. O'Neal declared, adding that "those who worked under the system then will tell you of the difficulties we had in getting anything done...(but) after we went on our own, significant progress was made in the BVI and that helped us to get where we are today."