§ 38. Mr. Mallalieuasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty why Maltese are not eligible for entry into the R.N. for continuous service.
Mr. DugdaleExperience has shown that Maltese are in general not desirous of serving outside the Mediterranean Station which would be an essential condition of a continuous service engagement, nor are they generally suitable to wider employment in more rigorous climates. There is, moreover, the difficulty of giving home leave to men not domiciled in the United Kingdom between commissions on stations far from their homes. The present practice, therefore, which is of considerable standing, is to employ Maltese as naval ratings on non-continuous service engagements for service only in the Mediterranean. The general question is, however, at present under further examination.
§ Mr. MallalieuIs the Minister aware that difficulties of this sort have been got over in the American Navy where there is difficulty with different climates, that the Maltese make excellent seamen, and that the Navy is short of men?
Mr. DugdaleLet me be quite clear that I never had any intention of maintaining that they did not make excellent seamen. It is purely a question of the difficulty of employing them in wider areas, particularly, as I have said, under more rigorous climatic conditions. The point is under consideration.