In 1942, Malta was surrounded by Axis and occupied territories. Very few convoys were managing to reach Malta and many merchant ships were being sunk by Axis aircraft and naval units. Although three merchant ships arrived with Convoy Operation MW10, they were sunk while being unloaded at Grand Harbour and Marsaxlokk harbour. The local authorities tried to salvage anything valuable from these ships. In June 1942 only two merchant ships reached Malta with Convoy Operation Harpoon.
By July, Malta was in the state of near starvation. If no foodstuffs reached Malta through merchant ships soon, the island would have been forced to surrender. With the arrival of the five merchant ships in August from Convoy Operation Pedestal, including the tanker Ohio, the situation started to slowly improve.
Under regulations issued in February 1941, farmers who owned their land, agricultural workers and cattlemen could be exempted from military service at the discretion of the Director of Compulsory Service. A regulation issued in March 1942 made agriculture a “scheduled occupation”, meaning it became an essential work for the war effort.
A number of men were exempted from conscription in order to continue working their fields. Later, others succeeded in convincing their officers of the need to continue working their fields and so they too were released from military service and went to their fields. There were also farmers who were conscripted but later given a month’s leave to work their fields. The first men to be given this permission were farmers in the Royal Malta Artillery (RMA), who were released to work their lands in the winter of 1941, while those in the King’s Own Malta Regiment (KOMR) were released to work in their fields as from the summer of 1942.
Due to the food scarcity, the black market raised its head and raised the price of essential foodstuffs. Black market activities in Malta involved trading in stolen goods, sometimes taken from convoys or looted from bombed premises, illicit trading in rationed goods, and transactions in excess of the official price. The black market had already started in 1941, but by 1942, when the scarcity of many essential goods was being severely felt, it was booming.
Lawrence Mizzi published a number of books about the social aspect of Malta during the war. One such book – The People’s War: Malta 1940-43 – is packed with reminiscences. One particular experience recounted by Concetta Falzon is about the black market activities:
Black market activities involved trading in stolen goods, sometimes taken from convoys or looted from bombed premises, illicit trading in rationed goods, and transactions in excess of the official price
“When we first moved to Rabat, food was plentiful and cheap. You could buy a hen for practically nothing and we used to eat very well. But then, suddenly, all this came to an end and hunger pains began to be felt. Sometimes I used to buy a bit of meat under the counter from a neighbour at black market prices, but at least we had something to eat. Eggs, when you could find any, cost half a crown each and oranges were about as expensive. On some days I used to take the road to Buskett pushing the pram with my youngest child in the hope of finding something to buy. When, on rare occasions, I managed to buy a few potatoes, I would hide them under the baby because at that time you could be stopped and have the food confiscated if you bought anything outside your ration. Of course, more often than not I returned home empty-handed.”
A queue of customers waiting to buy bread from a seller and his horse-drawn cart.In another oral testimony, Joseph Genovese said: “The food shortage did not worry me too much because although my brothers and I were non-smokers, we had our ration of cigarettes which we could readily barter for bread. At the time the statutory price of a loaf of bread was four pence but on the black market you would have to fork out between three and ten shillings for it.”
Joseph Micallef, in his book When Malta Stood Alone, says that in August [1942] a rotolo of sugar cost eight shillings on the black market (the controlled price being four pence). A rotolo of lard (fixed price: one shilling) was sold for seven shillings, a bottle of edible oil (normal price: six pence) six shillings, a tin of milk (five pence) two shillings. Potatoes were being sold in the field at 50 shillings a wiżna. In September 1942, sugar went up to 15 shillings on the black market, flour to eight shillings a rotolo, a loaf of bread to two shillings six pence, a gallon of kerosene to 15 shillings and an egg to 16 pence. Sometimes even goods obtained by the ration card were sold from 100 per cent to 150 per cent over and above the government price.”
Probably few people know that black market activities existed even in Gozo and between Malta and Gozo. Charles Bezzina, in his book Wartime Gozo 1940-43: An Account of the Bleak Years, says “these illegal activities between Malta and Gozo were common and the Police Occurrences of July and August 1942 are full of references to Gozo boats being inspected.
“In defiance of these strict measures, Gozo boats plying between Malta and Gozo nevertheless transported essential commodities without the Food and Commerce Control Officers’ permission and even conducted clandestine trips at night, laden with eggs, kerosene, flour, and other essentials, infringing regulations issued in December 1941 and February 1942.
“In the former order, no one could transport eggs to Malta without permission, while the latter order stipulated that no one bring flour sacks from Malta to Gozo without the authorities’ consent. Although some Gozitans were caught red-handed in the black market business and immediately charged, they continued with the illicit trade for the whole war. As stated before, confiscated black market commodities were mostly donated to the refugee nuns at Għajnsielem, Marsalforn and Ta’ Ċenċ, that had been transferred to Gozo.”
People waiting to be served at a Victory Kitchen.During spring and summer 1942 a large number of Gozitans were caught by the police with more foodstuffs than normal at their homes or stores. Others were caught by the Food and Commerce Control Officers having in their possession flour, eggs and sugar and other foodstuffs without the necessary permission. An order from the FCCO of December 3, 1941, said that as from December 8, 1941, no one was allowed to send eggs from Gozo to Malta without permission. The order said also that the only ports allowed to embark and disembark foodstuffs were Mġarr and Valletta quay, and that only Gozitan boats were allowed to do so. This order was amended in July 1942.
Another order, which started on February 16, 1942, included strict rules on who could send flour from Malta to Gozo. Anyone who wanted to unload flour in Gozo needed permission from the Officer of the Food and Commerce Control from Customs House to be given to the police at Mġarr, Gozo. However, the rules continued to be breached and food continued to be sold on the black market, included rationed foodstuffs such as flour, kerosene and eggs.
Maltese boat owners, especially from St Paul’s Bay, sailed during the night to embark foodstuffs from Gozo. A number of Gozitan boat owners, especially from Għajnsielem, were involved in embarking and unloading eggs and flour and other foodstuffs in certain bays such as the Xatt l-Aħmar, Żewwieqa and other places on Qala side, that only they knew about. They used places that they were not guarded by the Coast Police in Gozo, which had 11 such watch-posts.
Several black market cases between the two islands are mentioned in Charles Debono’s book Wartime Mellieħa: The role of the village in the Second World War. A particular case happened on November 12, 1942, when at 10.30am, Lieutenant. A.N. Xuereb of ‘E’ Company of the KOMR noticed a man and five women carrying four boxes and five baskets with eggs and two baskets with Gozo cheese. Later, the police got to know that these eggs and cheese were brought by boat from Gozo and landed at Irdum il-Qawwi. The women did not want to give the particulars of the Gozitan boatman. All the items were seized by the police.
Boats plying between Malta and Gozo transported essential commodities without permission and even conducted clandestine trips at night
A similar case occurred on December 19, 1942, when at 11.30am a man from Tarxien was found with 16 goats at Marfa. When he was asked from where he got them the man told the police he had bought them in Gozo and that they were brought to Malta by means of a Gozitan motor-boat. The man told the police the goats were taken on board the vessel below Fort Chambrai and unloaded at Ċirkewwa. The man did not give any information about the Gozitan owner of the motor-boat. The man added that he had bought the goats to sell milk.
Food was so scarce that people reverted to the black market to have something extra to eat.A number of curious cases of illegal activities occurred on a single day in 1941. The four cases were reported by the police on August 12, 1941. A Gozitan aged 48 was caught taking sand from Armier Bay at 7.30am in his boat no.36 without permission from the examining Dockyard Officer. Another Gozitan, aged 47, was caught at 2.30pm also carrying sand, this time from Ċirkewwa Bay; when he was caught he already had a load of sand in his boat no.49.
Another case that same day happened about 15 minutes later when the Gozitan owner of the boat No. 51, aged 48, was caught carrying sand from Armier Bay. And at around 3pm of the same day, another Gozitan aged 50 was caught after having loaded an amount of sand from the same bay in his boat no. 40.
About a month later another Gozitan aged 29 was caught carrying sand, this time from Little Armier Bay in his Gozo boat no.36. This last Gozitan was again reported for the same offence at Little Armier Bay on September 27 at 3pm.
A particular case occurred on May 8, 1942, when after enemy aircraft strafed several goats at Gelmus Hill, these were sold to a butcher in Żebbug, Gozo. The dead goats, full of bullets, were eventually sold three days later on the black market in Malta.
These are just a few of the illegal activities reported between the two islands during the war. Those participating in the illegal activities were ready to risk their lives at a time when the two island were surrounded with sea mines. They took advantage of the terrible situation prevailing at that time by charging high prices for basic necessities, and by the end of the war they were in a better financial situation than they were before the first attacks on Malta in June 1940.
Charles Debono is the curator of the National War Museum.
Charles Bezzina is a researcher and author of various books about Gozo during WWII.