Evening star., 1949-09-25

told OF the little island delivering
For a people who withstood me
left with an island virtually deva
foothold for the United Nations
in a sea which had befome largely
Axis-controlled, this was not too
surprising.
What made the news stories
more interesting was the fact that
the Maltese statesmen were re-
ported as threatening to offer the
island to the United States for use
as q base, and even might con-
slider severing allegiance to the
British Empire.
The United States might be in
terested in having Malta as a
naval base, it is true, as long as
lit maintains a Mediterranean
task force. but the hope-if it ever
really existed-that the United
States would take Malta out from
under Britain's nose was not well
founded. 1t certainly would be
willing to step in to deny the use
of Malta to the Soviet bloc of
powers but not otherwise.
Population Problems
Since World War II Malta has
been plagued by a series of very
fundamental problems. Chief of
these has been rate of popula-
ton growth which has been out
of all reasonable proportion to the
size of the island and it's possibili-
ties for supporting human life. This
problem has been added to the
equally basic problem of repairing
the wars devastation.
Beyond these have been the
difficulty of trading with Britain
herself and the need for food
subsidies to keep down labor's de-
mands for higher wages. Until
last April the British government
had been providing these sub
sides, and since the war had con-
tributed somewhat over 100000
pounds sterling to meet Malta's
needs.
Further complicating matters
has been the Maltese govern
ment's desire for a share in Mar
shall Plan aid. which they have
not been able to persuade the
British government to grant.
Malta's difficulties with Britain
were seriously aggravated last
summer, when the British Admir-
alty's decision to lay off l 200 men
from the dockyard was announced
to the Maltese government. This
was an employment cut which
hurt on an island where of the
working force of 10000 persons,
about $4,000 are employed by the
Admiralty and the Royal Air
Force.
Mr.. Mintoff, the Maltese re-
construction minister, and Edward
Ellul, the commissioner general
in London, began dealing in a
serious way with Arthur Creech
Jones, the British colonial mini
ster, on August 10. Mr.. Mintoff,
returning from a trip to Malta,
brought with him apparently a
powerfully worded memorandum.
This memorandum appears to
have dealt with all of Malta S
complaints. including Britain's
alleged discrimination against
Maltese exports in favor of Italy,
and Britain's refusal to renew the
annual food subsidy.
The British press described the
memorandum as an ultimatum,
for it set a deadline of August %,
by which time Britain should per-
nit Malta to apply for Marshall
Plan aid on the threat that
otherwise grave steps would have
to be taken"
Malta Officials Resign
Mr.. Creech Jones refused to
continue negotiations with the
Maltese unless the ultimatum were
withdrawn. The Malta Prime
Minister, DR.. Boffa, withdrew the
ultimatum and negotiations were
resumed.
This action precipitated a crisis,
however, between Prime Minister
Boffa and Mr.. Mintoff, his deputy,
who resigned because DR.. Boffa
refused to give assurances that the
ultimatum would not be with
drawn.
Mr.. Mintoff's stiff stand for
Malta's share in Marshall aid was
not without support. although the
Maltese cabinet had taken more
moderate position. which was rep
resented by DR.. Boffa. The day
following the Mintoff resignation
Mr.. Ellul announced his resigna-
ton in support of the Deputy
Prime Minister.
At a press conference amplify-