THE TABLET' January 24th, 1959. VOL. 213, No. 6192

Published as a Nfe-wSpa^ef

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER & REVIEW

Pro Ecclesia Dei, Pro Regina et Patria

FOUNDED IN 1840

JANUARY 24th, 1959

NINEPENCE

Reasonable Deceney ; The Criterion for Publications -Freedom in Education : The Principle of Harmony. By the Bishop of Salford

The United States Re-visited: II. Ireland and Red China. By Sir Arnold Lunn Soviet National Income : The T ru th about M ilitary Expenditure. By T. Zavalani G. D. H. Cole: A Personal Memoir. By Colin Clark

Critics’ Columns : Notebook : Book Reviews : Letters : Chess

WILD COUNSELS

W HEN Parliament reassembled on Tuesday, Mr.

Lennox Boyd parried questions on Malta because he is to make a statement next week on the Government’s proposals for carrying on the administration there.

By the declarations not only of Mr. Mintoff but of the opposition Nationalist leader, Mr. Borg Olivier, whatever the proposals, the Maltese politicians mean to render them unworkable, and to bring the administration of the island to a standstill by popularising the ugly concept of the “ traitor ” or “ collaborator with the occupying Power,” so that no Maltese will dare to take a part in the government of the island. Logically these same politicians ought to call on all the Maltese1 employed by the Government to leave their employment, but they have not reached this point yet. Mr. Mintoff, however, has reached the point of trying to discourage the British commercial firms who are prepared to take over part of the dockyard and provide alternative employment for men for whom the Navy no longer has sufficient work. For this he is invoking the popular mystical theory that the dockyard, because it is in Malta, belongs to the Maltese people, and that there is no such thing as Government property apart from national property.

The whole Malta story is one of deepening tragedy, and it is only a small part of it that the British Government looks like spending, in the course of coping with the protracted emergency, very many more millions than the Treasury made its limit for aid when the integration proposals broke down, and having continually rubbed in that Malta is no longer strategically so valuable, will be forced to show that, in fact, a high value is still attached to it.

The attitude of the Maltese electorate will determine how far the leaders can go in poisoning the atmosphere with black lists and talk of retribution. Here we very much hope that the strong hold of the Catholic Church on the people of Malta will prove a moderating influence, and that it will be clearly pointed out that it is wicked nonsense for any Maltese to call another a traitor, or to treat him as such, for taking a different view of what is in the best interests of the population as a whole.

It is a highly depressing spectacle that the party followers of Mr. Mintoff present, cheering him when he proposed complete integration, which was an avowed acceptance of the British connection of the last hundred and fifty years, but now also cheering him when he assumes the new role of the defiant patriot facing a cruel, usurping Power, such as Britain has become in his eyes almost overnight, because of a failure to agree on how much money Britain should provide.

These violent and largely artificial policies are bound to have a damaging effect on the precarious material standards of an overcrowded island. A policy of ferocious quarrelling with Britain will provide a great argument to any other Government or company against involving itself in the troubles of the island. If the two party leaders are showing so little wisdom, there are other Maltese, not normally interested in politics, who now have every inducement to exert themselves to arrest the deterioration, and to restore a sense of proportion and calm before it is too late. After M, Mikoyan’s Visit

M. Mikoyan’s visit to the United States ended with recriminations with the State Department, which indicated that he had hoped to bring back some definite agreement that would result in wider trade. The American Government stood by its list of banned exports, and its subordination of commercial to strategic considerations. But in a larger sense M. Mikoyan’s visit has been a Soviet success. It has changed the tone in which the Western Governments speak of discussions and negotiations, even over the thorny subject of Berlin.