20 FEBRUARY 1932, Page 2

The Royal Commission sent to Malta has reported to the

King. It says, without qualification, that Constitu- tional government should be restored. An election should be held, and, before that, the Ministers now holding office without responsibility should retire and leave the Governor and his officials to conduct the election. The Report is an illuminating piece of Colonial history: The experimental constitution was not perfect but worked fairly well, and will work better with some amend- mentS now recommended. Nearly all the trouble was due to incompatible tempers. The Prime Minister, Lord Strickland, though a pious, pratiquant son of the Church, was too masterful not to be anti-clerical in politics. The incident of the Franciscan Father Micallef was magnified out of all proportion and is best forgotten, with much else. What we are glad to see proved is that the Foreign and Colonial Offices acted very properly throughout, and that the Pope, who, as Monsignor Ratti, knew Great Britain so well, comprehends British policy under which education and constitutional -government inevitably emancipate people from the Church's control in secular affairs. We are reassured also. of the loyalty of the Maltese to the Crown, in spite of a great Opporr- tunity for Italian nationalism to get a hold.