asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if recognition will be given to the Society of Administrative and Executive Civil Servants in Malta.

The Society has been recognised as a trade union since it first registered as such in 1954.

Has not there been some difficulty recently, because this union claims the right to withhold labour? What has been the result of the negotiations about that point?

There are current negotiations, and I think that both the matters to which this union attaches importance—that of separate negotiation and, if necessary, of ultimate arbitration—have been conceded to it on this issue.

Thank you.