Muddle in Malta

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1005, 23 June 1930, Page 9

Muddle in Malta

BITTER ATTACK ON PREMIER Report to the Vatican CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE RUMOURED I ER words are used, hy liobinson, Apostolic Delegate to Malta, in an unequivocal attack upon Lord .Strickland, Prime Minister, whose influence, lie says, is making peace and harmony impossible in that Dominion. Rumours insist that Malta may revert to the status of a Crown Colony.

United P.A.—By Telegraph Copyright Reed. 11.40 a.m. ROME, Sunday. It is doubtful whether peace and harmony can exist in Malta while Lord Strickland remains in power, says Monsignor Robinson, in reporting to the Vatican after his visit as apostolic delegate. He adds: “Lord Strickland spends five days a week in the Law Courts fighting others. He has been so accustomed throughout his life to fight that if he should stop he would almost die. “He considers those opposing him in the slightest degree to be his enemies, and he would sacrifice any individual policy or principle for his love of power. “He is cunning without scruples, and it is not an exaggeration to say

that Malta is subjected to a regime of terror and inquisitorial despotism. “The opposition is disarmed and the newspapers are muzzled. If the British Secretary of State understood the extent to which Lord Strickland has damaged Britain’s prestige, he might force him to modify his policy or find a way of eliminating him from the political field.” Earlier reports from Malta stated that the Cabinet had resigned, without giving any reasons. This action caused surprise, as the Prime Minister, Lord Strickland, and the Minister of Education and Migration, Sir Augusto Bar-tolo, who are in London, have no information on the subject. One message states that, the constitution has been suspended. A later message from Malta denies that the Cabinet has resigned, but a strongrumour is current that there will be an early reversion to the status of a Crown Colony for two years.