In reply to my letter of October 8, Joseph Pirotta (‘Historical context’, October 12) wrote that I compared apples to pears in an effort to belittle what I said.

He begins by mentioning that I was correct when saying that Malta was not economically independent in 1964. He continues by giving facts and figures of the situation in Malta between 1964 and 1971, figures I agree with.

He continues, just as I said, that Dom Mintoff negotiated with the British since he still rightly felt the need to retain the British forces on the island. However, he fails to mention that from a miserable sum of £3 million a year, of which Malta had to pay back to the British government £1 million, thus being paid only £2 million annually, Mintoff, in 1971, managed to get for the people of Malta £21 million a year for seven years.

How’s that for comparing apples to pears?

The point I meant to make in my letter was whether, given the conditions, Malta was truly independent.