§ MR. SAMUEL SMITHI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that recently an English lady was taken into custody in Malta, detained for 24 hours, and then given only a single day for leaving the island, merely for having distributed a number of religious tracts while travelling through the island; and whether any steps will be taken to prevent the repetition of such an occurrence?
§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONPerhaps I may be allowed to answer tin's question. There is no truth, as far as we are aware, in the statement. In March, 1891, two Protestant ladies who had been distributing scriptural cards in the streets of Valetta were detained for about two hours in the police station to protect them from molestation by the people, who had been informed that the cards were intended to Protostanise them. Last March one of these ladies, Mrs. Lundin Brown, requested the Governor to provide a military escort to protect her during her stay in Malta with a view to the distribution of similar literature. The Governor very properly refused the military escort; but a plain clothes policeman was ordered to watch unseen to protect her from molestation should she carry out her intention. But shortly afterwards she left the island without anything further coming to the know-lodge of the police.