REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS + 9

Important Legislation
 Several important and significant pieces of legislation were passed,
including the following:
 1. Act No. 778, to create the Apprenticeship and Training
 Council.
 2. Act No. 798, Relating to the Industrial Incentive program
 to plug loopholes in earlier programs, and to provide for further
 stimulation of the economy of the islands.
 3. Act No. 800, to establish the Buck Island National Monu-
 ment in St. Croix.
 4. Act No. 801, to provide for zoning and subdivisions.
 5. Act No. 814, to ratify and adopt an agreement relating to
 an Alumina Plant Development on the Island of St. Croix, for the
 purpose of encouraging and promoting the investment of at least
 $25,000,000 of private capital in an alumina processing plant.
 6. Act No. 816, to regulate the issuance of injunctions in labor
 disputes.
 7. Act No. 819 relating to the Personnel Division, for the pur-
 pose of strengthening the Merit System for career government em-
 ployees by providing for fair hearings before the Government
 Employees Service Commission in dismissal cases.
 8. Act No. 834, the Joseph A. Gomez Homestead Exemption
 Act for the purpose of encouraging home ownership through a
 partial exemption from the payment of real property taxes.
 9. Act No. 845, to raise the legal rate of interest on first priority
 mortgages on real estate from 6 to 7 per centum for the purpose
 of stimulating new mortgage money for housing construction.
 10. Act No. 852, to establish the College of the Virgin Islands,
 the cardinal objectives of which shall be the stimulation and utili-
 zation of the intellectual resources of the people of the Virgin
 Islands and the development of a center of higher learning where-
 by and wherefrom the benefits of culture and education may be
 extended throughout the Virgin Islands, the Caribbean and other
 areas.
 11. Act No. 855, to reorganize and establish the Department of
 Law.
 12. Act No. 871, for the acquisition of land in several areas of
 Charlotte Amalie for resettlement of superficiary house occu-
 pants in owner-occupied dwellings.
 13. Act No. 873, for the acquisition of land in St. Croix for
 the purpose of community development.
 14. Act No. 903, to establish the Department of Housing and
 Community Renewal. This Act also provides for the Virgin