§ MR. SUMMERSI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury at what date it was first made known to the Authorities in this country that the marriages of Protestants with one another and of Protestants with Roman Catholics in Malta were contrary to law, unless celebrated according to the form established by the Council of Trent?
§ * MR. W. H. SMITHIn 1865 by the Crown Advocate of Malta, who is now Chief Justice; but (1), as regards marriages between non-Roman Catholics under licence from the Governor or Bishops, or otherwise, he advised that they had received a degree of recognition which constituted a consuetudo abrogatoria, and were, in his opinion, valid; and (2), as regards marriages between a Roman Catholic and a non-Roman Catholic, he advised that they could only toe legally celebrated by a Roman Catholic priest in accordance with the forms of the Council of Trent.
§ MR. SUMMERSI would ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether his attention has been called to a letter,? dated 24th June, 1890, from a gentleman signing himself "Wesleyan Minister," addressed to the Chief Secretary to the Government at Malta, complaining that he had recently been refused a licence to perform a "mixed marriage," on the ground that one of the parties was a Roman Catholic, although licence to perform such marriages had never hitherto been refused, and asking whether the Governor will continue to issue licences for the performance of mixed marriages; and what answer, if any, has been returned to this letter?
§ * MR. W. H. SMITHThe attention of Her Majesty's Government has not been drawn to the letter in question, of which the Colonial Office have no knowledge.