The Maltese Constitution The proclamation' last week in Malta by
the new Governor, Sir Charles Bonham-Carter,' of the coming into force of Letters Patent revoking the Constitution and instituting a slightly modified form of Crown 'Colony Goverriment was quietly received in the island and has attracted little attention elsewhere. The Constitution had been suspended since 1932 ; and the new regime, which provides for a- nominated Consultativ'e"ebinricil and . the publication of ordinances in draft form &month before their promulgation, therefore represents a certain advance on the .system of government under which Malta, has lived for. the .past lour .years. The two rocks on which the demopratic constitution of-1921 has finally foundered were the. political pressure exercised by the Vatican. (or at any rate by the local Roman Catholic Episcopate) on the Maltese electorate and the constant antharitish activities of Italian propagandists. The latter reached their culminating point last autumn, and were a serious embarrassment, if not an actual menace, to British rule in Malta- In these . circumstances it is not surprising that the last six months have witnessed an extensive comb-out and deportation of Italian agents, and that the. privileges hitherto enjoyed by the Italian language in the island have been curtailed and, in part, cancelled. The exchange of the autonomy Malta once enjoyed for Crown Colony Government means political retrogression, but in this case there was no alternative.
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