Government Notarial Archives

After long years of inertia, it now appears that a move is being made at the Government Notarial Archives in Valletta, which are mostly frequented by notaries and one or two others like myself.

This move consists in the installation of a 'spying eye' in the only room accessible to the public and where clerks and messengers are daily in attendance. The idea is presumably to stop a would-be criminal from running away with a heavy volume or two, or from ripping pages out of some volume, although whether this sort of thing ever materialised at these archives has never been made public.

Whether a 'spying eye' is installed or not is not of any particular interest to me; what worries me is only that priorities are being inverted.

The protection of volumes is given more importance than the protection and comfort of customers. Not that these volumes are not badly in need of protection; in fact most of them are in an awful and miserable state: dusty, torn, moth-eaten, and severely damaged through neglect and rough handling.

In these volumes lies hidden a primary source of the social, civil and religious vicissitudes of our islands, as I can testify after spending the last 11 years in gratuitous, painstaking and assiduous research work begun over 60 years ago in the Mdina bastions during the war.

Unfortunately, hardly anything serious is done to alleviate this sorry state of affairs. Surely a 'spying eye' will not help to improve matters; in my opinion it is a wrong priority.

As mentioned earlier, while a spying device is allegedly installed to protect material property, nothing at all is done for the protection of those who find themselves on these premises.

In fact, customers have to sit in uncomfortable conditions; they inhale dust and are bitten by worms; sanitary facilities, including soap, are at a premium; no mats or carpets to help feet from freezing in winter time; not a peg to hang a cap or a coat on.

The only redeeming factor is the efficient service provided by staff members although they also have to work under these adverse, not to say primitive, conditions.

To make matters worse, for customers, a section of these archives in St Christopher Street, which is supposed to open for about three hours only once a week (on Tuesdays), many times remains closed on the appointed day, and so a week (or sometimes more) is lost to the detriment of those who need the services of this government institution.

I have come across people who had travelled all the way from outlying areas, showing their disgust and disappointment on finding the doors closed, with or even without a notice expressing regret. This happens whenever a clerk or a messenger is away on a Tuesday. It is a definite case of adding insult to injury.

Tackling these deficiencies is one of the priorities that a customer rightly expects at the Government Notarial Archives. 'Spying eyes' and similar gadgets, if considered proper, should come later: otherwise priorities will continue to be inverted to the general dismay of one and all.