'File 19/175 Bahrain - Pearling' [‎35r] (68/83)

Page 3.
coerce the foreign divers, who were the backbone of the pass-
ive resisters, or else to devise some concession which would
save the face of the Bahrain Government. I thin^: a little
pressure would Ir-ve brought them to reason, but seeing the
^h ilch would give me^no support nd y^uld cert-inly bl-me ii.e
for ny trouble th^t occur ^edrAbdull ; .h sug; ested tht the
ft
nakhudas should be % 11 owed to give a 1 or.,n if they wanted to,
up to 20/ - for divers and 15/- for pullers against their tisqam'
or end of season advance, ar.d since it seemed likely thrt this
would enable the nakhudas with Bahraini divers to get their
men out { v. i so m; ke it difficult for the others to stay behind
as they always thiniC that the boats that get out first m.y
stumble on some big find ) I advised the Shaikh to allow this,
and arranged for it to be done in a way that would save the
■ brain Government ' face 1 to some extent.
#
7. The Bahrain Government had decided that they
would not enforce decrees against the divers salafs, and I had
agreed to this,but without enthusiasm / since it meant revising
orders in over . hundred cases, and since almost all our divers
had left their homes provided for and only vented their salafs
to spend on new bishts and a final orgy of v/horing, but a new
complication now arose. To accp^t a 1 tisqam 1 at the close
of the year binds the diver to dive for that nakhuda in the en-
j^i|, suing year, and men who had nearly paid off their debts did not
want to bind themselves for another year by simply taking a
loan of 20/*- This difficulty was tided over and next day a
number of Bahrain boats set out and finally, to day, practically
1" tip rem inder of the fleet have > hu "«**■«' . ^
3. Belgrave's attitude over the salafs is not alto
gether reasonable. One is of course ia anxious to ke^p the di
vers out of debt as far as possible, but when they are setting
out on four months very hard work a substantial advance is only
reasonable, anc ±t an advance lower thj n this years would make"
the divers look about for some other employment; if Bel^rave
had his way, I think he would reduce them still further." The
^haikh, on the other hand^is never happier than when gllriztg away
other people 1 ® money, in^ckse the merchants, who are very h&rd