Two Pulls in Malta
BY J. GR1MOND, MP 0 N the first morning of my visit to Malta I stood in a swaying crowd, which chanted hymns and waved yellow and white Papal flags as it engulfed the Arch- bishop's car and manhandled it back to his palace after he had celebrated Mass on the Festival of St Paul Shipwrecked. In the afternoon of the same day I was one of perhaps 12,000 who packed an open-air meeting to cheer as one man for Mr. Mintoff and integration with Britain.
It was refreshing to watch an election in which Britain and the Christian religion, though in one sense rivals, are both so popular. It is gratifying to be patted on the back by both sides, simply because one is a British Member of Parliament. I do, not overestimate the importance of such popularity. Mr. Mintoff is volatile and his party has at one time vigorously criticised Britain. I know popularity can easily evaporate—but nevertheless let us pick up the halfpence; we get plenty of kicks. At present the Maltese people are undoubtedly pro-British.
But that in itself settles nothing. Nor has the referendum settled anything. Mr. Mintoff, though he got 55 per cent. of the `normal' poll, cannot claim the substantial majority which was to be a prerequisite of integration.
But the important point is that a majority of the Maltese are in favour of integration if the Archbishop would withdraw his opposition. The Archbishop told me that he would withdraw his opposition if the'British Government would give him the guarantees he wants—in writing—safeguarding the present position of the Church. It may well be asked why he wants these guarantees, which would not bind a Maltese Government, when it is secularisation by a Maltese Government, not a British Government, that he fears. The answer is that the Maltese Government would presumably have to acquiesce in these guarantees if they were incorporated in the instrument setting up integration. The guarantees would therefore give him some assurance and at least a good argument against future infringements of the Church's position.
The two meetings I attended exemplified the two pulls in Malta's affections, the Church and integration. The position of the Church is alien to our ideas and the spectacle of an Arch- bishop broadcasting that the Government has declared war on the Church may shock us. But it is important to understand the position of the Church in Malta. It is a Roman Catholic country in which the Church is established and commands the devout adherence of the great majority of the population. Their faith gives the Maltese a solidarity which is in many respects enviable in the world of today. We should be chary about encouraging its dissolution.
On the other hand, integration to the Maltese means primar- ily the promise that their wages will increase, new industries will be set up, the British social services will be applied to the island and eventually they will be guaranteed a standard of life equivalent to that here. It is a tall order. Malta is not badly off compared, say, to Spain or Sicily, but there is a lot of poverty and bad housing and only one major source of in- dustry, the dockyard, employing about 20,000 men; and it must be remembered that the base may decline in importance in this nuclear age. The island has a population of over 300,000, little water and no raw materials, and, of course, its situation and the lack of any port capable of landing large civilian ships are additional handicaps. The land is stony, limited in extent and poor.
We are faced, therefore, with a welfare undertaking of some magnitude. It will require considerable sums in capital develop- ment and annual subsidies over and above our present contri- butions.
It seems to me that it is a pity that 'equivalence with Great Britain' has come to be taken so much as the operative phrase in these projects when conditions are so different. I do not attach at present so much importance to the constitutional step of bringing Maltese members to the British Parliament. It could be a momentous precedent, but the position of Malta is unique and it may be that few other colonies will want to follow her in this respect. But they may well ask for similar economic advantages. Singapore, the West Indies, Fiji, to men- tion only a few, are all loyal members of the Commonwealth who have stood by us in war and have a claim on our gratitude. We must in any event help them to develop their countries and raise their standards, but 'equivalence with Great Britain' may be very difficult.
Nevertheless, we cannot turn back now. The Round Table Conference and the referendum were. I think, premature. But the majority report, broadly accepting the referendum propo- sals and signed by the leaders of all three political parties, has virtually been taken as the decision of Britain—though consti- tutionally it could, of course, be rejected. We have gone a long way, too, to meet the Archbishop's demands for guarantees. We must now prevent the situation turning sour and anti- British. A Church v. State split in the island would be dis- astrous. As integration cannot proceed immediately. I am glad we are encouraging negotiation between Mr. Mintoff and the Archbishop. Such negotiations must give due weight to the Archbishop's genuine apprehensions, and to those of the oppo- sition parties. While these are proceeding we should press on with economic development.
But once again it seems to me that we have been overtaken by events and committed too soon to a policy to which we may not be able to adhere. We cannot hold the colonial empire together by subsidies, nor is defence against Russian Com- munism a dynamic appeal. Malta is a special case, but it has lessons to teach of wider application. I only want to suggest one, and that is that we should encourage different parts of the Commonwealth to co-operate in solving each other's problems. Britain herself suffers from certain disadvantages in handling crises in colonial development. Might not, say, a French- Canadian statesman, or Mr. Menzies, who has a large Maltese community in Australia, play a useful part in guiding the future of the island?
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