Editor: Please permit a space in your column to express my views about St Vincent and the Grenadines, basically coming from a long way.

I was born and actually raised in the tiny village of New Grounds, and I was fortunate to be around as a little kid to witness, in the middle of the fifties and early sixties, what St Vincent was all about and where it was basically heading.{{more}}

We had sugarcane, cotton, arrowroot, copra, banana, spice and a vast number of other land produce, and St Vincent and the Grenadines practically had an excellent economy with the majority of the citizens living very comfortably. My father, during that time, was a very successful farmer and he was always boisterous about St Vincent and the economy.

But then disaster struck, the cotton factory got burned down, and not too long after, the sugar cane factory actually closed, leaving the economy in a tailspin.

The arrowroot industry virtually lingered on for a few years, but then all the factories throughout the island eventually closed their doors, sending the economy in more tailspin.

St Vincent and the Grenadines for many years had to depend on tourism, banana, spice and other land produce for survival and today is no different, we are still depending on the same things.

Our dynamic Prime Minister is leading the country to a splendid recovery after so much disaster. We have to congratulate him for his total dedication and supreme loyalty.

Everton Mercury