REPORTS OF THE COMMISSIONERS ON THE AFFAIRS OF MALTA. Smat.t.

in size, the island of Malta is important by position ; and we know Out not a few of our readers take an interest in the complaints and grievances, for the redress of which Mr. John Austin and Mr. George Cornewull Lewis were sent out as Com missioners from England in the autumn of 1836. Among the Parliamentary Papers of the present week, printed by order of the House of Commons, we find a series of Repoits (or extracts from the Reports) by these gentlemen, and other Con espondence with the Colonial Office. 'lie Commissioners arrived at Valletta on the 20th October 1836; and lost no time in commenciug an inquiry into the defects of the system of government, and the complaints of the people of Malta. Theptiiici1ual suljects which engaged the attention of the Commis- sioners, rind the reforms they reconanended, will be stated presently. It would appear from Lord Glenelg's letters, that in almost evely instance the suggestions of the Commissioners were adopted by the Celonial Office, and directions given to Sir Henry Bouverie, the Go- vernor, to carry them into effect. How far these recommendations ivy been actually enforced, does not appear. I. State of the Press. Peculiar circumstances give this a leading tank among the subjects of investigation. The Commissioners found nothing like liberty of the press in Malta. The law and practice with uspect to printing and publishing is thus stated— No erre is allowed to exercise the trade of a printer, or to use a printing- press, without a licence from the Chief Secretary ; and since no such licence has ever been granted to any pri% ate person, the only press in the island which supplies the public with printing ia one which belongs to and is worked at the expenseu f the Gucci ne.ent. Every writing printed and published in the island is prinftd by the Government pre-as, with the previous permission of the Chief Secretary y, anal is published with previous licence ; and on any appli- ca!ien hy a pt il ito person for such permission and licence, the Chief Secretary Is :mem ized to refuse them si ithwut assigLing his reasons." • • "o lieenee to exercise the trade of priater, or to use a printing-press fur any purpose, has ever been granted. Presses used in the island without seek previous licence have been se:zed by the Government." There is a paper called the Malta Government Gazette, published under the authority and at the expense of the Government. Its et, tents are chiefly accounts of the departures and arrivals of ships sad persons, deaths, births, and marriages, the Governor's balls and levee, and advertisements. Comments on the conduct of the Government and local occurrences, which the authorittes might wish to conceal, ere carefully excluded. We do not see any mention of the price, but iri, said to be excessive, and its clauses for advertisements and official an nouncements are very high. Is'evertheless, it is conducted at a consi. derable loss to theGovernment, the circulation being extremely limited The law of libel, which is the old Roman law relating to libelli A.mos; is never enforced; and such is the absurd state of things with respect' to publications in Malta, that foreign libels are circulated with iMpti. nity- 4, So unhappy are the law and practice with regard to printed publications that, whilst they subject the Government to the reproach of maintaining; censorship, and expose the whole of its conduct to groundless surmisesisd imputations, they give it little of the protection which a censorship would naturally afford it. Since imported printed writings are not subject to the censorship, and since, in practice, there is no law of libel, printed writings attacking the Government are imported and circulated without restriction: pamphlets, impeaching generally the system and conduct of the Goverflient. dealing in confident assertions, and written in an inflammatory style, Inse accordingly been imported and circulated extensively." The Commissioners recommend that liberty of printing andpub- lishing, accompanied by a law for preventing abuses, be substituted for the existing law and practice. An objection has been raised that the free circulation of writings on religious subjects would alarm the Catholic clergy for the faith of their flocks ; but this fear is now M. mitted by the clergy themselves to be groundless. Hitherto the efforts of the Protestant missionaries to convert the Catholics, by means of imported writings, have had no effect.

" The zealous endeavours of the Protestant missionaries to convert the Maltese from the Catholic faith, have been helped by the ample funds placed at their command, and by the actual law and practice with regard to printed pub- lications. But with all their zeal, and all these extrinsic helps, their eudea. Yours have been wholly or nearly fruitless. The attacks which they have made on the Catholic faith, in writings imported or printed at the Missionn, presses, have scarcely met with a reader amongst the native population. We were informed, in the course of our examinations, that the conversions from the Catholic religion, since the establishment of the British Government, hoe been extremely few (not more than five or six); and that these conversions were not to be attributed .o the dissemination of Protestant writings." It appears that the Government derived a profit of 134/. from the the printing done for private persons in Malta k thereby levying a tax on the public to that amount. The Commissione, s recommend that the monopoly of printing, the censorship, and the Government Gazette, shall all be abolished. It is calculated that the number of par. chasers of any independent newspaper that may be established in Malta would not exceed 50, while a sale of 500 copies would barely suffice to pay its expenses: the Commissioners therefore recommend that all Government advertisements and Government official acts shall be published in the first properly-conducted newspaper that may be es- tablished, by way of encouraging and protecting the publishers, until such time as the increased intelligence of the Maltese population shall render such assistance unnecessary. 2. Supply of Grain. Under the old system, the Governnient mono- polized the trade ingrain; from which it also raised a considerable part of its revenue; but on the 10th of January 1837, the Governor issued a notice that no further purchase should be made for the purpose of maintaining a reserved stock of wheat. During the last year, the stock on hand was brought gradually into the market and sold, and the addi- tional duties on grain imported in foreign vessels was abolished. The Commissioners propose the imposition of a fixed duty of 10s. per quarter, in the place of a scale of duties beginning at 12s. and falling Is. per quarter for every increase in price of 5s. per quarter above 25s per quarter. The apology for so high a duty as 10s., is the ne- cessity of taxing an article of general consumption in order to obtain a revenue ; for such is the poverty of the Maltese, that duties on luxuries yield a very trifling amount. For instance, in 1836, the duty on superior wine produced only 1341.; on wax candles, 1/. 15s. 3d.; on tea, 118/. Is, 4d. The whole amount of revenue required is 95,0001.; an enormous sum for so small a place and so poor a people. 3. New Tariff. The Commissioners found the system under which the foreign trade of Malta was conducted so injurious, that they pro- posed the repeal of all the laws in force with respect to the arrival and departure of vessels, the mode of collecting duties, the duties them. selves, and the bonding of goods. They propose to consolidate the whole of the laws in one simple enactment, and to substitute fur all existing ditties the following tariff; which it may be useful to insert in this place, as it received the almost universal assent of the merchants, and also of the Government in England with one exception. Lord Glenelg objected to the proposed uniform duty on vessels of every class and nation, as opposed to the system of reciprocity adopted by the British Parliament for regulating the trade with foreign cuuntries. s. d. Beer in bottles 0 12 0 per hophead.

eer in hogsheads 0 1

Cattle, bullocks, horses, and mule. 0 per dozen.

bead.

The Quarantine dues to be abolished. I 0 0 per Grain— 0 0 (60 rl igeir iastatlm r.) e

'Wheat 0 0 0

Indian corn 0 16 g

Sa n

ggia 0 3 0 rtttoo..

Bailey 0 4 0

Manufactured grain 00 6 0 per canter.

Oil (olive) Beans, carrary-seeds, caravances, chick peas, hemp 0 (1 per alio.

I'ulse and Seeds— seed, kidneytheatas, lentils, linseed, lupins, peas and Vinegar Ii 01 .2 0 0 2 0 :tt‘. vetches 0 2 0 per shut. Cs'pariroibts.beans and cotton-seeds Ii cauttar.

0 11 0 ditto.

Wine (suptriar)

Wine (common) 0 2 0 ditto. The strike Pleasure to be used universally. The tonnagealues to be as follows:

vessels above 40 tons, for every ton, or any part thereof, 6d.

A bola duty to be levied on spits manufactured iu the island. The dues for store.rent, &c. to be fixed at moderate rates. The Commissioners also suggest, but with some hesitation, that a number of articles, consisting chiefly of cotton, honey, fruits, mecca- • alSeed and silk, the produce of Malta, shall be admitted duty b free into the ports of the United Kingdom.

4. Government Charities. There are several charitable institutions in Malta, all of which seem to require a better system of management. Sir Thomas Maitland introduced the principle of uniform manage- ment; which has been since departed from, and the Government cha- rities are placed under different authorities,—nu doubt for the pur- pose of multiplying patronage. One of the institutions which most requires reform, is the Foundling Hospital. In November 1836, the number of foundlings in the house, or at nurse, was WO. So great was the mortality in this establishment, that out of 597 infants entered, no fewer than 478 died in the course of the four years, from 1833 to 136 inclusive. Though fully aware of the evils attending the establishinent of a Foundling Hospital, the Commissioners do not venture to recommend its immediate abolition ; but propose, that in- stead of receiving children indiscriminately, those only shell be ad- mitted who are publicly exposed and deserted. The general sugges- tions with respect to charities follow- " 1. To place all the Government charities under the management of one

beard. " 2. To discontinue the payment of Government alms, to limit the Govern.

west relief to relief in public institutions, to make all destitute persons admis- ale into such institutions, and to empower the Board of Charities to make regulations for the government of these institutions, the object being to relieve the most necessitous part of the poor population. "3. To restrict admissions into the Foundling Hospital to foundlings pro. pert), so called." 5. Marine Police. On this point it will be only necessary to state, that the Commissioners recommend an adherence to regulations already issued by Lord Glenelg, and which appear to have been disregarded. The system, as far as we can gather from the report of the Commis- sioners, appears to have been little else than a mass of jobbing, espe- cially in grants of Government houses, rent free, in violation of in- structions from the Colonial Office. This system of giving to favour- ites houses at the public cost has been carried to such an extent, as to reduce property worth 1745/. per annum to 3641. ; and the number of parties so accommodated are shout one hundred. In conformity with the regulation issued in 1830, Lord Glenelg sent in July last strict orders, that henceforth every individual employed in the public service should be remunerated by a fixed money payment, to the exclusion of Lutes and every other emolument and advantage whatever. 6. Official Salaries and Pensions. The Maltese have been plun- dered to a great extent, considering their means, to furnish pensions arid salaries to all sorts of people. On this subject we quote a pithy statement of the chief contents of the Malta "Blue Book."

"Pensions to persons connected with the Order of St. John

of Jerusalem 12,130 9 0 Pensions granted on reduction of office 1,843 15 9 Pensions granted on superannuation, retirement, Ike 3,955 7 0 Pensions granted for military services 1,431 13 6

Total £9,361 5 3 "The total revenue of Malta in 1836 Was l,5,3921. ; of this Burn, 23,864/. arose from the rents of the Government lands and houses, leaving 71,528/. for the produce of taxation. It results therefore, that of the taxes levied iu Malta, more than one-eighth is consumed in the payment of pensions. "Nor does the sum of 9,361/. 5s. 3d. represent the entire annual expense of pensions in Malta. The Government have, at different times, made grants of Government houses rent-free, in the way of pension or compensation for past services. The value of the houses so granted is estimated by the Collector of Land Revenue at 393/. 10s. 6id. a year. "The Government likewise disbutses a sum of about 4,000/. a year in alms. This sam is professedly applied to the relief of the poor ; but see understand that grants base been made from it of small pensions (amounting to about 12/. a year each,) to widows of clerks in Government offices, of professional persons, and others not belonging to the working classes, whose families have been left in distressed circumstances.

"We are not aware what compensation your Lordship will grant to the reduced officers of the Grain department ; but we apprehend that the increase of pen- sions from this source cannot fall much short of 1,000/. a year. The retirement of Sr Frederick Hankey will likewise entail a further addition."

In Malta, as in this country, the public is especially sensitive on the subject of pensions. The Commissioners say- " We should have great difficulty in conveying to your Lordship an adequate seine of the vehement and universal dislike of taxation which exists in this 4sland, and of the vigilance with which every increase of the public burdens is vratehed. Although there is but an imperfect liberty of printed discilss4on, the amount of public money received by esch person, and the duties which be performs, or has pei formed for it, are known with a precision and canvassed mall as interest which are only possible in a small community. The salaries and pen.dons of the present and for mer servants of Government are known with fir greater accuracy, ;end are Mach Mere generally discussed in Malta than in England, notwithstanding the attempted secresy of Government in the one country, and the unbounded publicity of Government in the other."

Among the chief recommendations of the Commissioners on this Lead, is the abolition of the office of Treasurer, a sinecure, paid at the rate of 940/. per annum. The total expense of the Treasury depart. nient, which is perfectly useless, the business being actually performed by the chief Secretary, is no less than 1,800/. per aulniM; although the balance in the Maltese treasury, owing to the payment of salaries and other expenses being monthly, is always trifling. The avoidance in future of grants and pensions, rind superannuation.allowances, is strongly urged by the Commissioners.

Tine papers from which this abstract is taken, are only the first part of !titular documents. 'Fire next should state distinctly, how far the advIce of the Commissioners, which appears to be uniformly judicious, and the orders of Lord Glenelg, for (nice not deaf to superior intelli- gence, have been acted upon.