"ملف 19/175 البحرين - تجارة اللؤلؤ" [و‎‎٦] (٨٣/١١)

shr re of tho proceeda.Tho divor thoroforo pays 20* on hid Tisqem (which
in addition he often receives in kind ^t an exhorbitrnt price-) which
••
he had advanced to him a year before,and also 20^ on his salf f which
he received only at the beginning of the season^'y five months before
the settlement .On the 3al£f he therefore pays something dtiMP 40^ per
big
annum. The vicious circle starts with the Merchants, of v hom th'ire - re
a few only , like Yusuf iCanoo,Yusuf Fakroo & some half dozen others, who
are sufficiently wealthy to be able to 'sell' the grain on credit.
.Nakhudas who ; re short of cash to pay the advances, ha ve no other souree
from which to borrow,& have to pay them large interest,which in turn
they debit to the divers.It is in fact * system of money lending by
a few vealthy merchants. It is not difficult to see that by the time he
h. r 's repaid the two annual r dv? nces ( amounting generally to about Hs
3oo or li s 400) plus the interest thereon, the diver seldom has anything
left from his share t or is often still indebted to the Nakhnda & becomes
still further so when he takes his fresh 'Tisqaa'.
Many Nakhudas have been in the habit of charging much more than 2o '
interest,but they now say that they could manage if they were allowed to
chrrge up to 2o ' r ny excess being in^ dmissable ,but that m£ ny could not
r*-ise money at less^& could not carry on if this interest be not per
mitted. In shorty the divers have to ccept the advances at any fancy
rate of interest the Wakhudas please to ch' rge them. In all probability
the big Hakhud--s do not take advances from Mer-h'nts at ? 11,but them
selves ? ct as money lenders to their divers,although some of the less
wealthy are obliged to / & probably havfl to pry heavy interest,which s
■oassed on to the diver v/ho has no in the matter.
The nuestion has now arisen as to wh-t rr te of interest c^n be admitted
as rnasofe^- by the civil court - the ihara will of course dmit no
interest-, xis soon ^ s th« new system of accounts comes into ^orce
disputes,which c;. nnot then be very plentiful,except as reg rds old
accounts, can easily be settled in the civil courts, ""t it is nace; s r
that some reasonable limits should be set to the amount of interest
which can be admitted. The Nakhudas besides their shr re of the pearls
count on ft king good de^l from this torm of money lending,v.'hic h more
over, oractically enslaves the diver % makes it impossible for him to