The uprising of 1798

Charles Xuereb (October 3) does try his best to find fault with the Maltese for the uprising of September 1798.

As early as 1801, the people of France were informed about what really happened on seeing a garrison of 5,000 French soldiers returning to their homeland from Malta as “mere skeletons covered with skin” on board British warships. Malnutrition had killed 20,000 Maltese.

Bosredon Ransijat, in his book Journal du siège et blocus de Malte, published in Paris, includes a list of 11 major faults that mostly angered the Maltese. He puts the blame squarely on the French administration for the uprising of the Maltese. 

He significantly declares “the Maltese could not possibly ever experience worse hardship then what they had to go through since the beginning of the French occupation. They rightly despise us and this is something for which we only have ourselves to blame”.

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

THOMAS ZERAFA – Naxxar   

Legal professional privilege

Louis de Gabriele, president of the Chamber of Advocates, speaking at the start of this year’s forensic year. Photo: Jonathan BorgLouis de Gabriele, president of the Chamber of Advocates, speaking at the start of this year’s forensic year. Photo: Jonathan Borg

At the start of this year’s forensic year Louis de Gabriele, the president of the Chamber of Advocates, highlighted how professional secrecy is under threat and said that a guidance note was bring issued to lawyers.

The contents of the note appear to be quite exhaustive but, still, I feel that certain particular situations call for some explanation.

Legal advice privilege only applies to communications between lawyers (or those acting under the direction or supervision of qualified lawyers) and clients.

It does not apply to legal advice given by other professionals. This can only be protected by litigation privilege.

This means that confidential (and perhaps unfavourable) advice provided by professionals who are not lawyers, at a time before matters become litigious, will have to be disclosed if a legal dispute does arise in the future, to the detriment of the client.

This is a particular problem for accountants and other professionals advising on tax issues. Where such advice is not given in the context of litigation, then it may be disclosable if a dispute subsequently arises, which is far from ideal.

Also, the definition of who is a lawyer’s client is often narrower than appreciated. For organisations and companies, it is only those who have direct and particular responsibility for instructing the lawyer. This cannot be all the employees within the organisation.

If documents are prepared by an employee who is not the client for the purposes of obtaining legal advice, such as briefing notes or a letter of instruction or the results of investigations, they will not be covered by legal advice privilege (although they may be covered by litigation privilege).

Finally, to be legally privileged, the advice has to be in the context of a client’s legal rights and obligations, liabilities and remedies.

Advice on presentational, strategic or commercial issues is not privileged.

Lawyers should be wary about exceeding their remit always advising in a legal context, rather than providing stand-alone advice on non-legal matters.

MARK SAID, LLD – Msida

Book not available

I first saw an advert for the book Roman architecture in Malta by David Cardona in the Sunday Circle of September 12.

I asked my wife to buy it for me but at Agenda in Valletta it was not available and she was told they could not order it. She then got into contact with Merlin bookshop in Sliema and they promised to get it for her.

In the meantime, my birthday has passed and I still do not have this book.

The next advert I saw was in The Sunday Times of Malta on September 26. It said: “fresh from the press.”

Merlin told my wife they had not yet received that book and, when she phoned BDL, the publisher in San Ġwann, she was told the book was not yet out.

What is the point of advertising it?

VOLKER SCHWAN – Buġibba

A good decision

I refer to the AFP article that appeared on timesofmalta.com on October 3 entitled ‘Fuming France in no hurry to mend Australia ties’.

The French government signed a contract to deliver non-nuclear submarines to Australia five years ago and, to the date of the cancellation, they had not met their contractual obligations.

Further, Australia’s national security risk has been elevated due to the rise of China in our region.

The government of Australia has recognised the potential danger posed by China and, as a sovereign nation, made the decision to enhance our defence capabilities, with the upgrade of the submarine fleet to nuclear power. It is the Australian government’s right and responsibility to protect the nation. The Australian people expect nothing less.

The resounding sentiment of the Australian people is that this was a good decision. The people are not overly concerned on when France resumes ties with Australia.

May I remind France that 60,000 of our finest men and women soaked their soil with their blood to save their country in time of war. Australia does not want conflict; however, we will arm ourselves to discourage others thinking of conflict in our region.

CHARLES BONNICI – Sydney, Australia

Thank you from Pakistan

I would like to express my gratitude to the Mission Fund for its donation of €2,000 towards our Missionary Society of St Paul (MSSP) mission on the periphery of Lahore, Pakistan.

Thanks also for the €500 for Mass intentions. The Mission Fund also kindly gave us another 1,000 because of the COVID circumstances.

This donation will go into a fund we set up to enable young people from the parish to pursue their higher education.

Studying at tertiary level is very expensive here, even in government institutions, which our families simply cannot afford.

In our own high school, the MSSP pays for all the teachers’ salaries every month (€2,500), so as to keep the students’ monthly fee as low as possible: from €1.5 to a maximum of €3.5.

May I also appeal to benefactors to continue supporting the Mission Fund by sending them used stamps and / or making direct donations online, or by bank transfer to any of the following accounts:

BOV (IBAN: MT70VALL22010000000 16300798022), APS (IBAN: MT67APSB77079005231820000 820762), BNF (IBAN: MT94BNIF1450200000000087963101), Lombard (IBAN: MT65LBMA05000000000001440822115.

Further information about the Mission Fund is available on www.missionfund.org.mt.

Thanks to all. God’s blessings.

FR GERARD BONELLO MSSP – Lahore, Pakistan

The sorry state of Mater Dei Hospital

On September 1, I had an appointment at Mater Dei Hospital.

The first sight that greeted me when walking towards the lifts from the car park at Level -4 was an unlit dark passage.

There were blackened tiles which look like they have not been cleaned for years. And, to cap it all, a box full of garbage which had obviously been there for some days, judging by its contents. 

My appointment over, I made my way to the lifts down to the car park at 10.15am. All three were out of order. I had to walk down four flights of steps.

I am 81 years old, not in the best of health and use a walking aid. I was not alone. Other frail people had to use the stairs.

Families were carrying pushchairs up and down the stairs.

And there was not an employee in sight to possibly help out with matters.

JOSEPH ATTARD – Attard

Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@timesofmalta.com. Please include your full name, address and ID card number. The editor may disclose personal information to any person or entity seeking legal action on the basis of a published letter. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.