Brighter British
Sir: How thankful the people of Gibraltar must be that the United Kingdom Govern- ment has a greater regard for the Declara- tion of Human Rights than have the writers who advocate that Britain should willy- nilly hand back the Rock to Spain. Never does one see an article or even a letter published in defence of the oft-stated position of the British Government or of the Gibraltarians' wish to remain British. As one who was Captain of the Port in Gibraltar for 17 years I would be grateful for an opportunity to help to redress the balance. It is an irrelevance for Simon Courtauld to begin his piece (`Brighter Rock', 13 July) by referring to the Mediterranean origins of the names of Gibraltarians. One might just as well refer to the many families with names of continental origin who have lived in this country for several generations as an argument for federating with the EEC. His assertion that Gibraltar no longer The usual?' has strategic importance for Britain is one that has been made before — nevertheless it has been unexpectedly useful in recent times — and who knows what may happen next?
Simon Courtauld cannot understand why the Gibraltarians are so determined to remain British. He raises an important question. The answer is quite simple: they compare the established order in Spain unfavourably with that of the British.
Whilst I cannot speak in greater detail for the Gibraltarians, I lived in Gibraltar long enough to know what would be my reasons for sharing their determination: a distrust in Spanish law because it appears to lend itself more easily to ambiguity in interpretation than does British law; a fear that the Spanish judiciary is less indepen- dent than that of the British; a fear that Spanish law enforcement tends to be arbit- rary and less effective than that of the British, and a fear that under Spanish jurisdiction one would be less sure of what the morrow may bring than one would be under British jurisdiction.
One might ask that as the average Gibraltarian is not so distant from the Spaniard in temperament, why should he find Spanish institutions so incompatible? The answer is that he has up to nearly 300 years experience of living under British jurisdiction, i.e. throughout his entire ex- istence, and he has lived in a British fashion. The cumulative effect of this too has entered his psyche, if not his genes, which has resulted in considerable angli- cisation.
Is it really any wonder that the Gibralta- rian, a creation of the circumstances of a history in which he has had little or no say, desperately wishes to remain British?
R. L. Rickard
12 Bowden Close, Coombe Dingle, Bristol
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