MALTA: Penny-Wise

In an age of never-ending colonial demands for independence, few things have so touched and intrigued Britons as the political yearning of Malta, the rocky little Mediterranean isle whose 320,000 inhabitants earned a collective George Cross for heroism under Axis air assault during World War II. Instead of independence, the Maltese under the leadership of fiery, 41-year-old Prime Minister Dom (for Dominic) Mintoff have asked for complete integration into the United Kingdom and the right to send three M.P.s to Britain's House of Commons in London.

But Mintoff and his compatriots are unpredictable folk. Just how unpredictable the British learned...