§ 48. Colonel WEDGWOODasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether His Majesty's Government has been requested to give and is giving support to the Prime Minister of Malta in connection with the dispute between that Government and the Vatican over the expulsion of Father Mikalef to Italy?
§ Mr. AMERYHis Majesty's Government, at the instance of the Maltese authorities, have instructed His Majesty's Minister to the Vatican to approach the Holy See with the request that an Apostolic Visitor may be sent to the island to investigate certain difficulties that have arisen—including the case referred to in the question—between the Maltese Ministry and the local ecclesiastical authorities.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODIs there any possibility of transferring to a more sympathetic country an ecclesiastic who threatens with excommunication the British Prime Minister of a free self-governing Colony?
Dr. VERNON DAVIESIs it not a mistake to say that there is a dispute between the Maltese Government and the Vatican?
§ Mr. AMERYThere is no dispute with the Vatican. There are certain controversies in Malta at the present moment, and the Maltese authorities have requested the intervention of an Apostolic Visitor to compose them.