MALTA'S DECADENCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12707, 9 March 1912, Page 4 (Supplement)

MALTA'S DECADENCE.

A correspondent of the Daily Telegraph paints' a' depressing picture of the little island of. 'Maltaj Within living memory ; Malta was the. warehouse of the; Mcditerranieaii, and a great coaling station. It waV a' regular port of call for gi-eat steamships, and ~ before Egypt caught the fancy of the winter' tourist it was a fashionable refuge from the cold and damp of the British Isles. Now, the correspondent states, its immense storehouses are' empty. Algiers and other Mediterranean ports have captured tha coal '-trade, steamers - call rarely at the island, and its -..winter seaaoTi has vanished. Even the Army And Navy establishments have been reduced by thfe- British Government-, the necessities of .. the political situation requiring concentration fti- the North Sea. rather than the Mediterranean. The outlook for 1 th6 'island' colony is poori and for this- ' the- correspondent blames •tha Maltese themselves. He says that ithey are unenterprising. They ha/ve failed to follow' the progress of "other oountries. ■iTheyhave .lost their- coaling supremacy in -the largely becaxise they have jio. .machinery /for coaling ships 1 expeditipusly. To this ."day, despite a tideless " s'ea • arid unrivalled harborage I,':1 ,': ships: -mvlst^ anchon off 'the fehore," and? trf-rftfers goods' by means' 1 of 3ighters. Commercial, docks;; and quate landing stages, are. unknown. , in Malta. The ■manufactures of sail blpth, pottery and; sbap}>and other industries, which flotrrished > not lceig ago, • haVe fallen into .decay.. The oil trade has go.i9 from the place which, once the storehouse for all the oil produced on the Barbary The Maltese are growing 1 more numerous and progressively poorer.. Coal-heavers ; once earned 10a a day> now 4s is the ruling pny. Agricultural laborers are glad to receive Is 4d a day, aud skilled mechanics have to accept 2s 6d. -■" Even the' famous Maltese lace njdustry has -declined, and a. Lace-Avorker's wages amount to little more than Id per hour. The Injperial Government has 'been impressed with the precarious position of the colony and hss appointed >a Commissicn -to make inquiries, ■ but the . correspondent of thf Daily TelegrapK .'declares that legislation' 'alone will not 1 save Malta. Apparently the" people C will • have W bestir themselves -4nd niake- better use* thapi they have,<done inthe past of theirown ability and the fine natural advantages of their country; 1 ■ '