NO RATES OR TAXES

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4372, 5 July 1938, Page 7

NO RATES OR TAXES

FORTUNATE MALTA PEOPLE A SEPARATE RACE To-day in Malta, where 10,000 de scendants of the ancient Phoenicians are busily working in one bf the most important dockyards of the British Navy, they are preparing to welcome the British Minister of War, Mr Hore-Belisha due to arrive on his flight from England (wrote Paul Bewster, in the ‘ Daily Mail,’ recently). This yellow island, drowsing in the sapphire seas of the Mediterranean, is among the most remarkable of the British possessions. Although only twothirds the size of the Isle of Wight, it is peopled by the tiniest separate rac« in Europe. Alone of all British territory its Government owns an opera house and maintains an annual opera season, rum a lottery with weekly drawings as a Government department, and operates the pawnbroking establishments. No rates or taxes are paid by tin fortunate inhabitants. The cost of living is very low. A furnished house oi flat costs only about £35 a year. Small wonder is it that this island, already so well known to thousands of cruise holiday-makers, is rapidly becoming popular as a tourist and residential re sort for English people. Mr Hore-Belisha will see the island when it is at its loveliest. In these golden days of early spring the gardens are one mass of flowers. Roses grow in such profusion that they are giver away, A DREAM CITY. Lovers of Malta will regret that Mi Hore-Belisha is arriving from the aii and is missing the unforgettable thrill which 1 know so well of entering tin harbour from the sea. Slowlv the liners glide into a blue bay beside which rise,a dream city composed of terrace upoi terrace of biscuit-yellow buildings. Drenched in blazing sunshine, this hill of walls and houses and towers seems to sleep between the blue of sea and sky. No sign of life shows itself. The cit\ seems empty and enchanted. Bui tumbling down from those turrets comes a tumult of bells, clanging and tolling and chiming. A cascade of bells from an enchanted city—that is the impression of Malta which I shall uevei forget. Inhabiting this picturesque city, as steeped in history as it is in sunshine, is a race of men and women who have preserved their characteristics and individuality for centuries despite successive invasions by Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spanish, and French, Malta was ceded to Britain bv France in 1814.

The Maltese, who are descendants ol the Phoenician traders of the Eastern Mediterranean, are a proud European race. Their complexion is for the most part less dark than that of the Southern Italians. Many are fair, with blue eyes, perhaps being remote descendants of the day when the island was governed by the Knights of Malta, members of the Order of St. John ol Jerusalem, among whom were some oi the highest families of Western Europe A GROWING PEOPLE. While the majority of Maltese an of middle height and stocky, powerful build, some are quite tall. For instance, Lieutenant-colonel A. V. Agins. the genial Trade Commissioner foi Malta in London, is over 6ft in height To-day, on Malta itself, and on its two smaller sister islands, there are about 260,000 inhabitants. The* population is steadily growing, for the Maltese are believers in large families They speak a language, known as Phce nician Maltese, which is completely in dividual, but bears some slight resem blance to Arabic.

British anti Maltese are mixing socially now more and more. British naval officers often marry Maltese girls, and Maltese are admitted to the British Club and British to the Maltest Club.

Sicily is only a quarter of an houi away by fast aeroplane—a mere 8C miles. To-day the only regular air service to the island is an Italian one. which makes Malta a stopping place on the Rome-Naples-Syracuse-Tripoli route

Aerodrome facilities on the island are, however, being rapidly developed by the British authorities, while the dockyard is unusually busy. Normally there are about 6,000 men employed there. Now the number is about 10,000 All save a few technicians are Maltese More than ever the world is thinking of Malta as an island fortress, but essentially it remains a slumbrous haven of peace dreaming of the past in its eternal and ageless sunshine.