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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 31 MAY 2015 26 Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. Letters Maurice de Giorgio – appreciating a legacy of excellence SPCA funds should be targeting hunting As we mourn the loss of Maurice de Giorgio, we also celebrate the great legacy he has left for our nation through his leadership at Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti. Patrimonju has enhanced our sense of statehood by making us aware of the richness of the treasures in family homes, and the responsibility we all have to preserve this great heritage which belongs to us all. Maurice's passing is a great loss for his family and friends. We shall surely miss his dedication, his love for our country and its culture, and his dry sense of humour. He was a man of many talents who com- bined his success in business with an equal success in the service of our patrimony. For many years, I had known many of the de Giorgios bar Mau- rice. Then our paths crossed soon after I was appointed Parliamen- tary Secretary for Youth and the Arts in 1990. Rita Flamini and I had been working on an idea of bringing to the appreciation of the public the many treasures in private houses in Malta. We needed to identify someone who would have the absolute trust of those who would hand over these artefacts and treasures temporar- ily to be exhibited for the appre- ciation and enjoyment of all. Her suggestion of Maurice de Giorgio to lead the project proved to be an inspired one. Maurice immediately took this mission to heart and led the other members of the Kumitat Patri- monju Malti with dedication and vision. Just before the 1992 elec- tions, to ensure its continuity, I set it up as a Foundation, Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, with Maurice at its head. As I wrote in his Festschrift, Maurice was the right man for the post not only because of his knowl- edge and love for culture: he was also highly respected and trusted and this was crucial to the success of the enterprise. We were still operating at the time when succes- sion duty covered also movables – jewellery, paintings and the like. Secrecy was an important element to families holding these riches, clearly not only because of secu- rity issues. Early in our fledgling friendship, Maurice and I agreed that only Maurice would know the name of the owner of the artefacts being exhibited in a Patrimonju exhibition. We had agreed that he would keep a written record of that but that he would be the sole person with the knowledge of the list of owners matching the list of artefacts. We both stuck to that arrangement religiously. I have no doubt that Patrimonju would not have been as success- ful as it is today without Maurice leading it as its first Chairman. As all those who worked with him know, he was a stickler for detail, a man of great precision – this was reflected in all the Patrimonju ex- hibitions. The highest of standards was normality. The first exhibition came to life: L-Arloggi tal-Lira, the Maltese Tal- Lira Clock. A truly great launch and a huge success, it made a name for Patrimonju. But it could so easily have been a total disaster, rendering Patrimonju a grandiose stillbirth. A very worried Maurice de Gior- gio walked into my office one day. Clearly he had some sombre news to communicate. The preparations for the first exhibition were well on their way. The exhibits were in place. Then disaster struck! An overen- thusiastic cleaner had wiped the face of one of the clocks with a slightly damp cloth... the colour ran slightly. An expert restorer from the United Kingdom had to be called in, he told me. This would cost a significant amount of money. We just had to ensure that the clock face was returned to its pristine self. I authorised him to spend the money to ensure that this clock is returned to its grand self. It was. The day was saved and I was left to deal with the State Auditor's queries later. The Maltese Tal-Lira Clock exhibition was followed by the Sedan Chair exhibition. Maurice's quiet and calm diplomatic skills were tested to the full in his quest to wrest Sedan Chairs, albeit for a short time, from the control of the Monsignori and the Kappillani. Sponsorships for Patrimonju increased and stabilised. Who could resist the serene diplomatic approaches from Maurice in his de- termination to provide Patrimonju with its own independent sources of revenue? With an incredible effort of time and resources, Maurice de Giorgio's Patrimonju gave us also Palazzo Falson, lovingly and tastefully restored to house – meticulously – the treasures of the Gollcher Foundation, a museum that is a pleasure to visit. Maurice de Giorgio has made a great and lasting contribution to the nation by documenting and exhibiting some of the most valu- able pieces of heritage which belong to the Maltese. He did this quietly, without pomp or ceremony, and without at any time losing focus on Patrimonju's main mission. Patrimonju is synonymous with excellence: Maurice ensured that its exhibitions, its publications, its unique museum, are all world class. This act cannot be followed – but all of us, especially those who will carry on Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, have an inspiration to drive them in their quest to keep on meeting his expectations: excel- lence, elegance and dedication! Farewell Maurice, and thank you. Thank you for your legacy and for providing us the privilege of shar- ing in it. Michael Frendo Sliem The recent nationwide distribu- tion of flyers by SPCA has got me puzzled. On several counts. Nobody would argue with the fact that SPCA should spend its funds – donated by the public – on subsidising vet fees for people on social welfare and, therefore, presumably, some- what pressed for disposable income. But I am at a total loss to understand why they have extended this very generous offer to farmers and hunters. Why can't these two categories of dog owners pay their own vet fees? Farmers can afford expensive farm machinery and, as for hunters, well, they must spend fortunes on their shotguns, cartridges and all the other Rambo-esque parapher- nalia without which no self- respecting hunter would ever let himself be seen in the field, playground, schoolyard, nature reserve, bird sanctuary, beach, car park, whatever. Next puzzling point: Shouldn't SPCA be trying to frustrate hunters' aims at every opportunity? The A in SPCA stands for Animals; birds are animals and the very aim of hunters is to inflict death on these animals. Sometimes this death is instant, which is bad enough, but it is often a long and painful one from starva- tion, thirst and/or wound- infection, which is very bad indeed, in other words, cruelty, the C in SPCA. And not only does SPCA offer free microchipping and neuter- ing to hunters and farmers, it even offers free transport to and from the vet clinic! Go figure out that one. I also wondered why SPCA is targeting dogs specifically, or even mainly. Then I noticed that the drive is being 'Sup- ported by Dogs Trust' and Dogs Trust, as the name suggests, cares about the welfare of dogs only. But SPCA's brief is much wider than that. Their func- tion is to look after the welfare of all animals – feral cats with eye diseases, karozzin horses standing out in the blazing sun all day waiting to take tourists around Valletta or Mdina, etc. The involvement of Dogs Trust, a UK-based charity, is intriguing: I wonder if the Brit- ish public, who, after all, con- tribute the vast bulk of Dogs Trust's money, are aware of the fact that their donations are being used to subsidise the kac- caturi of Malta, people much hated in UK, if the comments on the outcome of our recent referendum on spring hunting are anything to go by. If SPCA is subsidising the neutering and microchipping of dogs for owners who neither need nor deserve subsidies, then it follows that they are wasting money that might be better spent elsewhere. Why not put the money towards sending a couple of local vets abroad to train in the special- ism of birds with gunshot wounds? Why not set up a dedicated unit for looking after the shattered survivors whose migration was rudely and abruptly – though not quite fa- tally – interrupted in the skies above our island? Perhaps school tours to such a facility, with its pathetically and permanently maimed victims, might cause just a few of the next generation to reconsider their latent, murderous namra. Victor Fenech Birkirkara Eighteen organisations and the Rabat local council yesterday walked from the square of the removed village of Bahrija to the picturesque bay of Fomm ir-Rih to express concern about "heavy hints of speculation" by Eliza Company Ltd, the company advertising the construc- tion of Disneyland-themed parks and five-star hotels on the internet, on one million square metres of agricultural land and garigue stretching from Bahrija to Gnejna. The land in question is a proposed spe- cial area of conservation of international importance, submitted by Government in the list of the EU's Natura 2000 sites. Two of the shareholders – former METCO chairman Norman Zammit and Generoso Sammut – are accused of having stolen paintings, furniture and other items from Villa Fiorentina in Lord Strickland Street in Attard back in September 1999, to the detriment of the heirs of the late Joseph and Lilian Grungo. The two men, along with shareholders Emanuel, Joseph and Carmel Bald- acchino, Ninu 'il-Hasana' Cuschieri and George Cuschieri, and Anthony Galea, have sued the Bahrija farmers, but the latter are claiming they had the land leased to them (qbiela) for the past 300 years. They were joined yesterday by rep- resentatives from groups which had formerly protested the development of the golf course at Tal-Virtù in Rabat, and also Kalkara Valley, including Alternat- tiva Demokratika, Friends of the Earth, Din l-Art Helwa and Moviment Graffitti. A minute of silence was held for Mal- taToday journalist Julian Manduca and The Times photographer Alfred Giglio, whose untimely passing away last week had been preceded by their work on the unfolding Bahrija land tussle. Falzon said that other property com- panies had been advertising land for sale in the area, namely 1,400 tumoli of land traversing Bahrija and up to Gnejna. "The organisations call upon the au- thorities to ensure that there is no room for any misunderstanding or misinter- pretation by committing themselves to rigorously fulfil their duty of full protec- tion of the area… the organisations invite the public to make know their concern about these trends both to the authori- ties and to their MPs and MEPs." Eighteen groups in frontline to protect Bahrija Editorial • 29 May 2005