The first parliament 1921-1924 and some aspects of employment legislation

Abstract

The 1921 Constitution gave to Malta a diarchical system of government. When the Great War (1914-1918) was over, the representatives of the people, led by Dr. Filippo Sciberras, renewed the struggle for greater political freedom in Malta. Their efforts were greatly supported by the recently-appointed Governor Herbert Plumer (afterwards Lord) and it was he who, Oil the 30th April 1921, proclaimed the new constitution to the Islands of Malta and Gozo. An important aspect ,of this constitution was the so-called Maltese Imperial Government which was constituted to deal with 'reserved matters. In general, therefore, the Maltese government D.K had very limited control over matters concerning the safety, defence and interests of the British Empire. In particular, the Maltese government had no power, for instance, over the naval, military and air forces of Britain stationed over in Malta, over coinage and currency, over immigration and the issue of passports, over postal and telegraphic censorship while trade and relations with foreign states were also greatly limited. The nature and the extent of these 'reserved matters', I think, left Maltese politicians with little choice but to concentrate on very local problems, often with a prejudiced partisan approach. The Language Question, for example, seems to be one of these narrow problems which did little, it appears, in the way of promoting political maturity in Malta but, on the contrary, turned the rivalry of the various political parties into something resembling enmity. But these remarks are perhaps besides the point and we now turn back to the constitutional document which granted responsible government to Malta.