Stray anatomy

Stanley J.A. Clews's contribution on Productivity At Malta Shipyards (June 27) has reawakened in me a curiosity which I have not been able to satisfy for a long time. As a teenager, I was present in Msida when Reggie Miller addressed the massive meeting in wartime which led to the establishment of the General Workers' Union. An impressive monument commemorates this historic event.

Mr Clews reminded the readers of the occasion when Prime Minister Dom Mintoff addressed another historic meeting, this time in Gavino Gulia Square, and called his listeners, Malta Drydocks workers, eunuchs, and many listeners clapped for the compliment he paid them. The GWU, which represented the workers, did not have the... backbone... to protest strongly at this insult.

Was Mr Mintoff correct, after all? Driving past the GWU memorial in Msida, I have often stolen a look at the numerous stone sculpted undressed figures of workers at the foot of this monument to see if Mr Mintoff's insult had any basis of truth, but the sculptor did not seem to have the courage to express himself on this point.