(2 of 2)
NATO would like to retain the Malta lease as cheaply as possible. Last week, as a result, Britain's NATO partners offered Mintoff an additional $2,000,000 one-time increase. At week's end, the Prime Minister had not made up his mind whether to accept the offer. His latest ploy was a rather dramatic attempt to shame NATO into upping the ante. He said that Malta would refuse all payments under the present contract but would magnanimously let the British remain, free of charge. That, at least, was a new scene in an all too familiar script.