Emigration: achieving an aim
A young family being interviewed The three different administrations of the time, Colonial, Labour and Nationalist, agreed on one fundamental point: to encourage emigration, particularly to Australia. In 1944, when the Maltese were still at war, an interesting visitor arrived from Australia. He was Captain Henry Curmi who way back in 1929 was appointed as Commissioner for Malta in Australia. Although he had to resign his job only a few months after his arrival because of ill health, he took his position again in 1936. Capt. Curmi was in Malta because he rightly believed that as soon as the war was over Australia would embark on a vast immigration programme and he also believed that Australia was the right country for the Maltese who wished to emigrate. Captain Curmi knew the Maltese settlers in Australia and had visited them in their various States. (34) The object of Capt. Curmi's visit was to help the Maltese prepare for emigration to Australia on a massive scale. While in Malta he introduced a recent book by the name "Know Australia" and he urged the local authorities to make the book available to all those interested in emigrating to Australia. He also gave three talks on the local radio. The first talk was given on November 12, 1944. He spoke on what Australia did for Malta during the war, the second talk given two days later was on how the Maltese were faring in Australia and his final lecture delivered on November 27, was on Australia as it was then. Capt. Curmi also emphasised that now the Australians had great esteem for the Maltese, they accepted them as British and treated them as such. (35) The distinguished visitor stressed on the importance of preparing migrants for their lives in foreign places. They needed to possess a working knowledge of English and had to have a trade. In fact evening classes for intending emigrants had been attempted in 1920 when various centres had been opened. (36) The Council of Government had more than 300 such classes going in 1945 with an attendance of 5,704 men and women. The prospective emigrants were given lessons in basic English and were given training in such skills that were in demand in the receiving countries. Moreover more than 500 ex-servicemen were being trained for civilian life and as potential emigrants. About 234 of these were being trained as mechanics. (37) By the beginning of 1949 the number of those who had put down their names as prospective emigrants was 10,425. Their preference was listed as: USA 4,875; Australia 3,810; Canada 1,122; UK 296. There were others who had wished to go to other destinations including Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand. (38) A definite emigration programme had to tackle two important issues: how to procure the necessary ships for transport and how to provide accommodation in the receiving countries. Shipping was still erratic because so many passenger ships had been converted for carrying troops during the war. The receiving countries had not yet embarked on an intensive housing programme because their economies had been geared towards the war effort. The Council of Government wanted to prepare the Maltese for mass emigration so that when the gates did open the Maltese would be among the first to be admitted. (39) During the last months of the Boffa administration an expert was called to advise on a streamlined economy that would not be so totally dependent on the Fortress strategy. The expert was Sir George Schuster who agreed that the naval and military needs of the British base had largely obscured the basic civilian needs of the population. Schuster urged the Maltese government to update the facilities in the harbours, provide a more dependable supply of electricity, extend the sewage system, improve the water reservoirs, embark on a reliable telephone network and build more schools and hospitals. The Schuster Report also stressed on the need of emigration and he suggested that the amount earmarked for a more thorough migratory programme should be raised from £100,000 to £300,000. Schuster was also of the opinion that the Maltese Government should have as its objective the emigration of 10,000 people every year. (40) The Maltese Government agreed that emigration of the surplus population was to be intensified. Dr A. Colombo, the Minister of Finance, said that no expense will be grudged to obtain the necessary results from emigration. (41) Most newspapers agreed with Schuster and Colombo. One of them commented that in 1950, 8,503 emigrants left, which was 500 more than was originally planned. It hailed that year as the best one in so far a emigration was concerned, but the editor urged his readers to make the fateful decision to go abroad. (42) The Malta Prospective Emigrants Organisation held a series of meetings attended by many people from all walks of life. One meeting held on October 2, 1948, was attended by the Prime Minister and the Archbishop. Also active was the Malta Ex-Servicemen Association which on October 16, 1946, presented a memorandum to the Government in which the Association claimed that it represented 3,000 members many of whom had expressed their intention to emigrate. It also said that it spoke for those who had served in the Malta Volunteer Defence, in the Air Raid Precaution and in the Malta Police. The memorandum said that the major obstacle to emigration was lack of shipping. It asked that its members would be allowed to avail themselves of the Australian Scheme for ex-servicemen who intended to emigrate to the UK or to any of the Dominions. The Association also noted that the Australian Minister for Immigration Mr Arthur A. Calwell, had said that aircraft-carriers carry 1,000 British emigrants on every trip they make to Australia. (43) On April 8, 1947, the Lieutenant Governor's Office in Valletta issued a statement under the heading: Emigration and the Problems it Entails. The problems referred to in the statement were three: - the violent changes brought about by the last war have made formerly receiving countries unwilling to accept immigrants;
- receiving countries like Canada and Australia were giving preference to their ex-servicemen by providing jobs and accommodation for them.
- lack of shipping, particularly to the USA and to Australia.
The first part of the statement referred to the countries of North Africa which had in the past received thousands of European settlers. Emigration to these regions was not to be encouraged as many European settlers were contemplating re-emigrating. The second part referring to ex-servicemen was well understood. In later years ex-servicemen from Malta were themselves able to receive preferential treatment. The problem of providing a number of passenger carrying ships was serious, but in later years that same difficulty was to be largely solved by the initiative of Malta's own Department of Emigration. Source: The Safety Valve (1997), author Fr Lawrence E. Attard, Publishers Enterprises Group (PEG) Ltd, ISBN 99909-0-081-7
    
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