§ LORD STRICKLAND rose to call the attention of His Majesty's Government to the urgent necessity of better provision for civil and Imperial aircraft at Malta; and to move for Papers. The noble Lord said: My Lords, I rise to propose the Motion which stands in my 473 name in the confident hope that the reasons for improving the number and efficiency of landing places and harbours for aircraft in Malta will commend themselves to your Lordships' House and ensure early attention to this great necessity on the part of His Majesty's Government. In Europe and America the development of aircraft has been extraordinarily rapid, and it continues to progress from day to day with astonishing results which concentrate our attention above and hardly give time to look below. The importance of Malta to the strongest commercial nation on the sea for the time being depends on its strategical position on the highways between the nations, and the object of the Motion now before your Lordships' House is to preserve for Malta, and for the Empire, the advantages in regard to air traffic that England and Malta have enjoyed in regard to shipping since the days of the early Phoenician navigators who founded Colonies on both Islands.
§ There is now for aircraft at Malta only one landing place on shore, and the harbour for aircraft at sea is not sheltered either for flying boats or for aircraft-carrier ships. The most suitable place for coming down on the water should be adequately protected without delay, and the one overcrowded landing place on shore must have adjuncts to meet naval and civil needs that are clamouring for attention. In the Bay of Marsa Scirocco a breakwater is imperatively required for flying boat development, and it is interesting to note that this breakwater was foreseen as a naval necessity thirty years ago by the then Commander in Chief, Sir Michael Culme Seymour, who realised that the area of the Valetta harbour would be inadequate. Amongst the Papers I am asking my right honourable friends to print, first and foremost is the estimate for this breakwater, which has long been discussed, together with any sketch plans that may be available. Publicity of these details may produce a consensus of opinion as to how the expenditure may be brought within practical proportions. Already in Gozo a breakwater is being built with hollow segments of concrete constructed on shore and floated to the site where they are sunk and filled up. The system of floating segments has diminished costs by nearly half, and it eliminates the danger of work being carried away during construction.
474§ The main argument I wish to put before your Lordships' House is that whereas ships of war and flying craft become obsolete, sometimes with great rapidity, money spent for safe harbours for aircraft and for aerodromes leaves behind a permanent addition to the resources of mankind, and an equally valuable and productive asset whether the League of Nations succeeds or not in stopping future wars. We must have a high road to India, China, Australia and Africa by air, and nature has indicated Malta as the first stopping place. The recent development of the flying boat has made us independent of other routes. The Motion before your Lordships' House has become urgent because hitherto the main air route to East and South has had a tendency to be diverted from Malta to foreign competitive centres, because it is only recently that flying boats have been constructed to cover safely the transit from Malta to Egyptian territory. The importance of flying boats, in contrast with other aircraft, has apparently only recently obtained the sympathy of His Majesty's Government. It is now, however, established, and all the energy available with the Maltese and Imperial Governments should be concentrated to bring this circumstance to fruition, so that once again Malta may offer strategical supremacy in the defence of Western civilisation against possible and ultimately inevitable Eastern rivalry.
§ It is from the point of view of that development that it is now inadvisable that there should be no area in Malta open for civil aviation. It may be said that the time is past for advocating any war-like preparations. I do not share the view that wars are at an end. The League of Nations may put an end to minor wars, but we have had leagues of nations in history for hundreds of years past. We have had them in the East and in China, where they came to an end when somebody was sufficiently powerful to defy authority. In the days of Grotius, Papal excommunication was the paramount sanction; it failed. We now rely on threats to deny international credit and stop financial intercourse, but no war has been stopped by lack of paper money when men were available. Small nations may perhaps be kept at peace by Leagues and threats; but history will repeat itself, and the time 475 must come when there will again be fighting to extinction for living-room on the face of the earth between the nations of the West and the less civilised and more reproductive people of the East. The last great crash between East and West ended at Malta, when the Turks failed to take that last rampart of Western civilisation because of the foresight in permanent preparations displayed by the Knights of St. John. Such foresight has not as yet commended itself to my right honourable friends on the Government Benches.
§ There are administrative difficulties as well as financial difficulties when rapid co-operation between two Governments has to be secured in Malta—difficulties in the construction of aerodromes and the enclosing of waters. It is essential that the control of air services should he absolutely in the hands of the supreme Imperial authorities. There can be no question, and there is no question of that. Nevertheless, there is a large civil population, and large claims for civil aviation, and experience and administrative knowledge are necessary in dealing with this matter. Naturally, when, as in the case of Malta, a Constitution is diarchical, it is only by clear understanding of the way in which constitutional governments can be adapted to working under warlike conditions at little or no notice that progress can be made. At the present time legislation on such questions is exceedingly difficult and cumbrous, and requires time, and there has been correspondence on divergent legal opinions as to the meaning of Clause 41 of the Constitution, which I think should be cleared up. The publication of the correspondence on the subject will facilitate a more general study of the problems, which are not problems referring to only one part of the Empire, but refer to other parts as well.
§ When one power in the diarchy has to provide the money and another power has to provide the authority difficulties must necessarily arise, and I think it is for statesmen not to give too much attention to mere ideals of the past, but to find practical ways out of difficulties, and the way out which I have suggested to my right honourable friend is that the power of the Governor to propose any Bill to the Malta Parliament about any question should be so extended that the 476 Governor may have power to propose legislation having a mixed character and covering Imperial as well as local questions, provided that any such Bill is first approved by the Secretary of State. That would save a very great deal of time, difficulty and friction, and in the view of lawyers whose opinion is deserving of respect it is already within the four corners of the Constitution as it stands. It is difficult to expect the representatives of the taxpayers to vote money or to vote contributions to great schemes if it is said that they are not allowed to administer the money provided by the taxpayer. The view that the inhibition of the Constitution against legislation concerning air by the Malta Parliament also bars the administration may commend itself to some lawyers, but it is entirely impracticable. It is impossible to have two Ministers and two Governments in Malta. The Governor cannot possibly govern with his private secretary and legal adviser, and some way must be found for reconciling these difficulties. Suggestions as to that way appear in the correspondence which I desire to have printed. I ask your Lordships' House to support me in that.
§ I hope my right honourable friend will not feel that I am suggesting that Malta should be given Dominion status. Your Lordships' House is not the place for making any such suggestion. It can only be made in the Conference of all the Dominions at the proper time and in the proper place, and it can only be achieved by co-option. I am not asking for the production of these Papers in that spirit. I am the last person who would wish to see any diminution in the ultimate and effective control of all other air services—all military services and all naval services—by the supreme Imperial authority. But when long experience shows that the machinery of the Constitution has been drafted by persons who have not had the advantage of the experience of the past, it is, I hope, to be expected that the non possumus of the average bureaucratic mind may be occasionally overcome.
§ I had the honour, I think more than forty years ago, of being a colleague of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies in the Colonial Office, and I should like to congratulate him on the fact that one of those Bills which has been held up for 477 months is about to be submitted at the next Council meeting for His Majesty's Assent. He has overcome many difficulties and contentions in a manner which has healed many disappointments, and established a useful precedent for the future. The procedure in your Lordships' House gives an opportunity for appealing to the judgment of public opinion which is not available in another place, and it is to be hoped that it is by discussion that the joint interests of this great Empire and of the individual units thereof may be brought under the influence of reasoned and careful judgment apart from political opinion. At the present time only two of the King's Ministers from overseas have seats in this House, but I hope the time may come when every one of the Prime Ministers of self-governing units of the Empire may have either a temporary or a permanent place in this Chamber. This would add, I think, to the usefulness and authority of your Lordships' House and would tend to revive its ancient glory and influence. It would also be an interpretation according to modern ideas of true democracy in the sense that word had when it was first introduced into political discussion and political science nearly three thousand years ago.
§ In these days public opinion has taken the place of authority, even of military authority, and it has to be originated in the Chambers where the Parliamentary institutions are represented. Public opinion is created here. It is afterwards manufactured and developed by the Press. This is a power of increasing importance in influencing this great Empire, because of wireless, because of broadcasting, because the whole world is become for psychological purposes as small to-day as, perhaps, the capital of this Empire was two generations ago. The authority of this House is as paramount as ever in creating public opinion, and it is for that reason that I have expressed the hope that better contact may be established with the King's Ministers overseas. In conclusion, I beg to express the hope that your Lordships' House will give support to the view that the time has come when more landing places on shore for aircraft and sheltered harbours for aircraft in greater number in Malta should receive the immediate attention of His Majesty's Government, for Malta is 478 not only the most important centre of British power outside England, but the most important centre in the history of contact between the nations; and that this development will also receive consideration in every part of the Empire. I beg to move.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AIR (LORD THOMSON)My Lords, I may as well recall your Lordships' attention to the Question standing in the name of the noble Lord. It is this—
To call the attention of His Majesty's Government to the urgent necessity of better provision for civil and Imperial aircraft at Malta; and to move for Papers.By "Imperial aircraft" I imagine the noble Lord, Lord Strickland, means Royal Air Force aircraft.
§ LORD STRICKLANDEvery sort. They must work together.
§ LORD THOMSONI need hardly say that the desires and ambitious expressed by the noble Lord for seeing Malta a Clapham Junction of the air in the Mediterranean are entirely in accordance with my own views on the subject. I would submit, however, that the time is barely ripe for that yet. I do not suppose it will be ripe until the range of aircraft has been considerably increased. But it is, no doubt, a consummation most devoutly to be desired. The noble Lord referred also to various parts of the Island of Malta where he suggested additional facilities should be provided, and I think it may be of interest to your Lordships to know what is the actual situation in Malta at the present moment. At the moment there is a Royal Air Force aerodrome at Hal Far. This aerodrome was originally a civil aerodrome; that is to say, it was constructed by the Civil Branch of the Air Ministry. It has been taken over by the Royal Air Force because it is necessary to have a base on shore for use by the Fleet Air arm in certain exercises. In regard to that particular aerodrome, I may say that it is already very congested. It is not large enough for Air Force requirements.
§ LORD STRICKLANDHear, hear.
§ LORD THOMSONThere is also a seaplane base at Cala Frana, an auxiliary base at Cala Mistra and another at Marsa Scirocco. Those three places are little bays in the coast of 479 Malta, with sheltered water very suitable for the use of seaplanes. The noble Lord suggests that a breakwater should be constructed at Marsa Scirocco in order to improve the facilities there. I am informed that the cost of that breakwater would be £25,000,000 sterling. That is a large sum, and at the moment I can hold out no great hopes to the noble Lord that (his sum will become available. There is another aerodrome projected in the interior of Malta for the Royal Air Force at a place called Safi. That is primarily to relieve the congestion at Hal Far, the only land aerodrome of the Air Force at the present moment. I believe (and this is the aerodrome that will most interest the noble Lord) that another site has been reconnoitred almost in the centre of the Island, near Ta Kali. I believe that is a suitable site for a civil aerodrome and that Sir Alan Cobham, during a visit to Malta, inspected it and pronounced it suitable for the purpose to which the Legislature in Malta desire to put it. There is no better judge of these matters than Sir Alan Cobham. I may say at once to the noble Lord that the Air Ministry will raise no objection whatsoever to that site at Ta Kali being developed as an aerodrome; but I would ask him to consult with the Air Ministry first regarding the general arrangements that are made for the construction of the aerodrome, because there will be this limiting condition about it—that in case of emergency it will have to be taken over by the Air Force.
The noble Lord has referred to some constitutional matters which do not fall particularly within my province but affect this question of aerodromes to some extent. With your Lordships' permission I will read Section 41 (c) of the Malta Constitution Letters Patent of 1921, which deals with the power of the Malta Legislature in regard to legislation. It provides that the terms of Article 4 Section 41 (c) shall not extend to the control and regulation of aerial navigation and the compulsory acquisition of land and buildings for purposes of aerodromes or for any other purpose connected with aerial navigation or aerial defence. That is the section to which I think the noble Lord referred.
§ LORD STRICKLANDAnd Section 29. May we have that as well?
§ LORD THOMSONI have not a copy of Section 29, but I think that is sufficiently precise for the purposes of our present discussion—"shall not extend to the acquisition of land and buildings for purposes of aerodromes or for any other purpose connected with aerial navigation or aerial defence." In other words, this question of aerodromes falls within the category of reserved matters. When faced with this constitutional question the Colonial Office, so far from doing anything to obstruct the project of the Malta Government which had in view the construction of an aerodrome—so far from doing anything to obstruct that very worthy purpose, has sought to overcome the legal difficulties within the terms of the Constitution in order to make it clear that from a practical point of view the project was approved and welcomed; that is, the project of constructing an extra aerodrome which, I imagine, is the real thing the noble Lord had in his mind when putting down this Motion.
With a view to reconciling the legal and practical considerations two alternative courses were suggested to the Malta Government, in a Despatch dated November 29, 1928, by Mr. Amery, the late Secretary of State for the Colonies. I would like to read them. The first was this, made entirely with a view to overcoming the legal difficulties imposed by the Constitution: that the Governor should authorise, say, the Maltese Minister for Industry and Commerce, under Article 31 (1) of the Air Navigation Order-in-Council, 1927, to administer the base. It was stated that such an arrangement should, however, only be made on the clear understanding that although the Governor would agree, so far as he considered it possible, to take the advice of Ministers with regard to questions arising out of the administration of the base, he was not bound to do so under the constitutional instruments. That was the first alternative offered to the Legislature of Malta. The second was this: That the Governor should give the Malta Government permission to establish an aerodrome in the same way as he might give such authority to a private person. It was suggested that he might do this by merely issuing to that Government, through one of its Ministers, an aerodrome licence under Article 8 of the 1927 Order-in-Council. 481 I submit to your Lordships that those were two very reasonable alternatives as offered by the late Colonial Secretary. The noble Lord, Lord Strickland, appears not to have been satisfied with that and to desire that the Malta Legislature should be given power to legislate on reserved matters.
§ LORD STRICKLANDNo; only after permission by the Governor.
§ LORD THOMSONIt amounts to very much the same thing, I think the noble Lord will admit. In any case, I think what the noble Lord suggests is an amendment of the Constitution.
§ LORD STRICKLANDSix words.
§ LORD THOMSONAn amendment to the Constitution of one word is quite sufficient to make it an amendment. His Majesty's Government, I may say at once, have considerable objection to meeting this view. It is based on the principle that certain matters must be kept in the hands of the Imperial Government, and that principle is very much at stake in the case of Malta. At any rate it is at stake while Malta retains its importance in the scheme of Imperial defence, and no amendment can be accepted. The principle underlying that Constitution must be upheld, but I do put it to the noble Lord that this particular case of aerodromes is of a border-line character—
§ LORD STRICKLANDHear, hear.
§ LORD THOMSON—under the diarchical form of government. I appeal to him to work that form of government with all its difficulties in a spirit of good will. It is essential to the development of it. I feel that if he would approach this question in that spirit of good will an amicable solution would be reached. In conclusion, I may say that both the Colonial Office and the Air Ministry want the Malta Legislature to put up a civil aerodrome. We will do everything in our power to encourage and facilitate such an operation, but in order to reach that desirable end it is surely unnecessary to alter the Constitution. It is not only undesirable, but it is impossible at the present time. The noble Lord has asked for various Papers to be laid. His Majesty's Government will consider laying the Papers referring to his somewhat lengthy dispute with the Colonial Office. As to the other Papers in regard 482 to seaplane bases I am afraid I cannot pledge myself to do anything of the kind without consulting the Admiralty.
§ LORD STRICKLANDMy Lords, perhaps this House will allow me to bear testimony to the ever-ready and efficient assistance which the Air Ministry and the officers working under it have always given to any effort to improve the efficiency of air communication in Malta and to advise the Malta Government. The noble Lord who has just sat down has pointed out that there are certain interpretations of the Constitution which must be interpreted with good will. There is the best of good will; there always has been, and there always will be, but your Lordships are aware that politics enter into the question when it comes to asking a legislative assembly to vote money. It becomes a question of whether those who support the Imperial authorities have a majority to carry a particular vote, and the difficulties in carrying important legislation with a majority of one are obviously very considerable if opinions are obstinately held as to varying interpretations of abstruse legal points on which the very foundations of self-government are at stake. I must say that, as one who has been brought up to the law and concerned with the drafting of more than one Constitution, my sympathies are decidedly with those who consider certain legal interpretations are probably inaccurate, and certainly unnecessary for the practical purposes of safeguarding Imperial interests, and I am sure your Lordships will agree with me that a prohibition in a Constitution "to legislate" must be read as a prohibition to perform the definite function covered by those words.
When certain lawyers construe that as a prohibition to do other things—into the prohibition of administrative acts by Ministers—it is not likely to be accepted by any self-governing Parliament, or by Ministers whose functions are transferred to others. A prohibition "to legislate" is not a prohibition "to administer," and until the curious Colonial Office interpretation of law is modified, there will inevitably be difficulties, with all good will, in persuading the majority of any legislative body in a self-governing unit of the Empire to accept what is considered a negation of self-government. It is true that Mr. Secretary 483 Amery signed a Despatch in which he said "he was advised" that that was so in law, and suggested how work could progress supposing it might be otherwise. He did not say that he agreed with that, and I have been hoping that Labour Ministers would be more enlightened and more democratic in certain "interpretations," and more likely to sympathise with a small, progressive and self-governing nation.
At a time when the grant of Dominion status to others who have not progressed so far is being discussed, a progressive Ministry does not expect to go back to the interpretation of a former Government that might be considered on the face of it as being less democratic. The view that the proposed alternative is not quite safe, is a matter of regret. I feel as strongly as anybody could feel the necessity of upholding the Imperial power to the utmost degree in Malta when it is really necessary for Imperial purposes, but not when it is, perhaps, merely considered necessary to uphold some legal opinion upon which lawyers differ. It may happen that a Department gets committed to "an opinion" and finds it difficult to change; but Ministers overseas always hope that a change of Ministry in England may mean that the opinion of the bureaucracy becomes open to some modification. The noble Lord says "non possumus," there is going to be no consideration of any amendment. That, however, is hardly an attitude which is practicable where responsible government has been granted. A Governor can only administer through Ministers. If Ministers cannot carry votes, cannot persuade a majority, there will naturally be a deadlock, which is not always to be attributed to an assumption of want of good will on the part of individuals.
As to the sites for an aerodrome which have been discussed in the very clear and illuminating speech of the Minister for Air, your Lordships will have noted that he pointed out that there is now in Malta no civil aerodrome.
§ LORD THOMSONIt was put up by the Air Ministry.
§ LORD STRICKLANDIt was given with one hand and taken away with the other. Yes, there is no civil aerodrome, and it is the object of the Motion before 484 the House to point out that it is necessary to have at least one somewhere. The last-mentioned site for heavier-than-air craft is the Safi site where the immediate construction of landing facilities is much more urgent than any other work as far as one can understand naval and civil needs in case of emergency. Money was provided for the Safi aerodrome in the Imperial estimates for this year. The Government of Malta was asked to co-operate in providing roads and to apportion land; and then when everything was being done hand in hand by all the authorities concerned, we were told that the Treasury had suddenly put a stop to the work.
May I again, in conclusion, refer to that which was the main argument which I ventured to submit to your Lordships' House—namely, that if the Treasury spend money on permanent works, that money is money invested, and not money burnt. Therefore, the reluctance of the Treasury in continuing its sanction of this expenditure at Safi or its decision to take it away when it had been publicly promised, really is a matter of Imperial interest. It is also one of those questions where local interest and Imperial interest overlap, and ought to be co-ordinated. These matters can only be co-ordinated by discussion, and by the publication of the Papers. May I point out also that one consequence of the withdrawal of Treasury approval from this site is to disorganise adversely to the Government the unemployment question. Unemployment has to be dealt with in Malta: it presses everywhere. That must be co-ordinated as regards Maltese funds with the amount of Imperial money about to be expended for Imperial works in Malta. And if arrangements as to the labour market, based by the local authorities on the amount of money the Imperial Government is going to allocate at certain periods, are suddenly unset, there is a disturbance of financial and political conditions which should be remedied by adhering to the promise. That is a matter which I trust and feel confident my noble friend will take the opportunity to set right by an appeal to the Treasury.
§ Motion, by leave, withdrawn.
§ House adjourned at five minutes past five o'clock.