LORD STRICKLAND

Southland Times, Issue 21091, 24 May 1930, Page 7

LORD STRICKLAND

. ATTEMPT ON LIFE SHOT AT POINT BLANK RANGE ESCAPE FROM INJURY (United Press Assn.—By Telegraph—Copyright) (Rec. 12.35 a.m.) Malta, May 23. An attempt was made to assassinate Lord Strickland, Head of the Ministry and Minister of Justice since 1927. A revolver was fired at point blank range, but Lord Strickland was uninjured. — . * ■ Lord Strickland’s unpopularity with a section of the Maltese people had its rise in his interference with disciplinary measures taken by a Roman Catholic order in Malta over one of its members, who had been engaged in political work. The Superior of the Order instructed the Brother concerned to leave Malta and go to another branch of the Order in Italy. An appeal was made to the Government, which insisted that ' a Maltese subject could not be removed from the island against its wishes. This involved Lord Strickland with the Vatican and in the subsequent dispute it was significant that the British Government took no action when Lord Strickland appealed to it for support. The Pope then excommunicated Lord Strickland, and the contest between the Church and the Government in Malta has been waged with great bitterness ever since.

Lord Strickland was born in Malta, and possesses a Maltese title, while he is leader of the Constitutional Party. He is the owner of the newspaper Times of Malta, and has served in many offices on the island, among them those of Assistant Secretary, Chief Secretary, and Major of the Royal Malta Regiment. It was for his services given when he was chairman of the Malta Cholera Committee that he received the C.M.G. many years ago, while his knighthood came in 1898. Lord Strickland has not confined himself to Malta and England, for in 1902 he was Governor of the Leeward Islands, in 1904 Governor of Tasinania, which he retained for five years, and then for four years of Western Australia, after which he became Governor of New South Wales until 1917, having occupied the office for five years. ‘ He has a seat in Malta, the Villa Bologna, while in England his chief residence is at Kendal, in Westmoreland.