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Father George (right) sprinkling holy water in Premier Amory’s office. Looking on are from left, Premier Amory, Mrs Marjorie Morton and the Deputy Governor General, His Honour, Mr Eustace John. |
Charlestown Nevis (October 24, 2004) -- The Honourable Premier, Mr Vance Amory, said on Friday that it was the intention of the Nevis Island Administration to construct a new government headquarters in the centre of Charlestown.
The Premier’s Ministry recently relocated from the Administration Building on Main Street, Charlestown, to the historic Bath Hotel in St. John’s Parish, where a ceremony to bless the building was conducted Friday morning by Father George Agger of the Catholic Church, who is also the Chairman of the Nevis Christian Council.
“It is a great honour for me to be here to participate in this blessing of the newly renovated Bath Hotel for use as the government headquarters temporarily,” said the Premier. “How long is ‘temporarily’ I do not know, but the intention really was to have temporary use of these facilities for that purpose.”
He told the small congregation that included the Deputy Governor General, His Honour Mr Eustace John, the President of the Nevis Island Assembly, the Hon Mrs Marjorie Morton, Cabinet Secretary Mr Oban Lawrence, Junior Minister for Trade and Industry the Hon Mr Laughton Brandy, and senior staff in the Premier’s Ministry that many persons coming to do business at the new location had said how impressed they were and some even suggested that Bath Hotel should be made the permanent headquarters.
“But those are things, which we have to take into consideration and as time goes on and finances are provided our intention is in fact to construct in the centre of town a government headquarters clearly with the kind of aesthetics and beauty and space, which will accommodate the government’s business,” commented Premier Amory.
He pointed out that since 1983, the staff of the Nevis Island Administration had grown, and the numbers increased significantly and noted that they suffered while in the original government headquarters in Charlestown where the old power station was because of the deterioration in the building. The building had been opened in 1978.
“But here we are today, consecrating this building for the use by the Premier’s Ministry staff,” said the Premier. “I think it is a magnificent building. The persons who constructed this building in the 18th century must have known a few things, which we are yet to learn in the way this building was constructed, because you will know that there is no steel in this building.”
While congratulating the staff of the Public Works Department and the Ministry of Communications and Works under Mr Tony Nisbett for the wonderful job in doing the renovation he pointed out: “I think you did an extremely great job in doing it and today we are here, and this building is like an historic monument and I trust that we could see this as the epitome of what Nevis can be: Strong, resilient, standing the test of time and being able to move into the future.”
