THIS DAY IN OUR PAST

The following events took place on September 30 in the years identified:

1958: The Rice Industry Board Law, passed by the Legislature in July, is brought into operation by proclamation. Under the Law, a board will be established charged with duty of promoting the interests of efficiency of the Rice Industry of the Island, regulating and controlling the purchase and sale of rice, the importation of rice and its distribution.

1969: Minister of Communications and Works, Cleve Lewis operates the controls of a bulldozer in the shadow of the Tom Cringle’s Cotton Tree to break ground for the start of the four-lane Kingston-Spanish Town Highway. Over 13,000 vehicles per day are expected to use the new highway when it is completed in two years, he tells a gathering of government officials and guests at the ground-breaking ceremony.

1969: Senior Minister of Government and Minister of Education, Edwin Allen, warns that persons who squat on Government lands which are intended to be used in meeting of some of the social needs of the country, “must get off those lands immediately or be bulldozed.” His warning is directed specifically to squatters on Penwood land which is intended for a school and other squatters in Flankers in St. James, on a site for a new school.

1969: The sex educational film ‘Helga’ has its gate premiere in Jamaica, at the State Theatre. The showing, sponsored by the Jamaica Family Planning Association, is held under the patronage of the Governor General Sir Clifford Campbell and Lady Campbell, who both attends accompanied by ADC Delroy Ormsby.

1970: Staff nurses at the University Hospital go on a go-slow, dealing only with emergencies. They are saying the move is in support of their colleagues at the government hospitals in their demand for transportation at night.