QUESTION. OBSERVATIONS. (Hansard, 9 September 1886)

§ EARL DE LA WARR

, in rising to ask Her Majesty's Government, Whether there are any special orders or regulations relative to the employment of Maltese subjects of Her Majesty in the dockyards at Malta or otherwise as seamen in the Royal Navy; also, whether there is any objection to laying Papers on that subject upon the Table of the House? said, from private information which had reached him, as well as from statements which had been made in the public Press, he was led to believe that orders or regulations had been issued relative to the employment of Maltese subjects of Her Majesty in the Dockyards and Naval Departments at Malta, or otherwise as seamen in the Royal Navy. It was a question which was naturally one of great interest and importance to the Maltese people, and he hoped Her Majesty's Government would not object to say what regulations were in existence with regard to the employment of Maltese British subjects in the Dockyards of Malta and the various Departments connected with them, and also as to their being employed as seamen, firemen, and generally in the Royal Navy—whether, he might say, as regarded employment, they were placed upon the same footing as other subjects of Her Majesty? He believed there was but one opinion, that the Maltese were good sailors, and that it was not easy to find men who worked better or as well as they did. He wished in a few words to point out that any subject relating to employment and labour in Malta was one of special interest and importance, and for this reason, the population had been for a long time increasing without a corresponding increase in the demand for labour. The resources of the Island were limited, he would not say incapable of further development, for he believed they would be greatly improved if there were more freedom of action in the administration of civil affairs, and that too without weakening the position of Malta as a fortress. But independently of these considerations the increase of population was becoming a matter of great anxiety. Emigration was already largely resorted to, but it could not go beyond a certain 1713 point, and if they looked to the relations of this country towards Malta, the circumstances of its annexation, and its great importance as a Naval and Military Station, these considerations seemed to demand that there should be at least equality of employment for the Maltese, when qualified for it, with their fellow British subjects. He could understand it was possible that difficulties might in some instances exist with regard to the use of the Maltese language, a language little used except by the Maltese themselves; but if it were found that a knowledge of English would afford greater facilities for employment in the Dockyards and Royal Navy generally, there was little doubt that it would tend much to promote the study of the English language. Knowing as he did something of the Maltese people and their hardworking and industrious habits, he believed they might be made of great service as sailors in the British Navy. If taken when young and trained, as they might well be at Malta, they would become a valuable addition to the Naval Service of the country, while at the same time employment, which was so much needed, would be afforded for the population of one of the most important Dependencies of the British Empire. He wished to ask if there were any Papers relating to the employment of the Maltese in the Dockyards or otherwise in the Royal Navy which could be laid upon the Table of the House?