Problems facing Malta industrialisation efforts

Abstract

At the turn of the Twentieth Century, investment in Maltese industry was limited to only a few traditional occupations. Manufacturing industry as such was in fact embrayonic, being made up of a few minor industries such as the manufacture of tobacco, tile making, the production of confectionery and preserves and the canning of tomatoes and other vegetables. In order that one might investigate the question whether any, and if so, what measures should have been taken to assist the development of Maltese industries in the early decades of the century, the peculiar difficulties under which the Island laboured at that time must be borne in mind. The civil population according to the Census of Population of 1911 was 211, 564 of whom 25,518 were under five years of age and 50,925 were housewives and unmarried daughters. The number of unoccupied persons and of those unproductively employed was 56,005.