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'Government of Bahrain Administrative Report for the Years 1926-1937' [29v] (58/86)
The record is made up of 1 volume (43 folios). It was created in 1937. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
36
have interpreted them as giving actual and exclusive ownership of all land which is not privateK
owned which is really State land. As a result of this condition, nearly all the land ttoni Manatnah
to beyond Zellaq, along the coast, is claimed by various members of the Ruling Family.
Date Dates are the most important crop in Bahrain; though not as good as
Cultivation. the Hassa dates, they are said to be more lasting. Most gardens contain
a large proportion of inferior species which are used only for feeding
animals. Few gardens are well kept. More than half of the gardens belong to the Khalifah, who
for years have spent no money on improving them, but in spite of this they complain incessantly
that the rents have fallen off, which is owing to the decrease in the market price of dates by ovet
60%, and the deterioration of the gardens from lack of care and expenditure on improvements.
Dates form part of the staple diet in Bahrain and are much used for provisioning the peai l fleet,
but the home-grown crop is not enough to meet the local demand, and every year about six
lacs
One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
worth of dates are imported from Hassa and Iraq. There is no land tax and no tax on date trees
in Bahrain, so it is impossible to give an estimate of the number of date palms, but the whole atca
under cultivation is very small, perhaps one-fiftieth of the total area of the islands. Recently the
number of date gardens has been slightly increased, as a few people, notably the Rulei himself,
have sunk artesian wells and planted land with trees. The date crop could undoubtedly be i^P' oved
if more care was taken over the cultivation. In Bahrain, date cultivation is a casual affair, trees
are never manured, and there is no regular system of planting. In one of the Ruler s gaidens the
experiment was made some years ago of manuring the roots of the trees, and the result of this
was that the trees produced better crops than those which had not been manured. The use of any
form of fertiliser, either decayed leaves and camel thorn or animal manure, was unknown a few
years ago, but it is now being used in gardens, but not for date trees.
Lucerne. Lucerne is used extensively as fodder for cows and donkeys. It grows
rapidly and is easily cultivated on poor soil. Both Hassa and Bahrain
seeds are used, the latter being more expensive, and when once established it will grow for as long
as ten years and will give a crop every month. It is very hardy in growth, but is liable to attacks
by a kind of small caterpillar which appears once or twice every year and destroys all the lucerne
in whole districts of the country. Experiments have been made by the camel section of the police
in drying lucerne and using it as dry fodder when out on patrol; this has been found very
successful.
Cereals. At one time it was the custom of the people of Rafaa to sow barley before
the rainy season on the plain below the town, and for many years successful
crops were harvested, but the crop occasionally failed owing to lack of rain. For some years now
this practice has ceased, partly because the people of Rafaa are more prosperous than before, as
almost all the able-bodied men of the town have obtained employment with the Bahrain Petroleum
Company.
An experiment was made in growing California barley by the Government some years ago
on irrigated land, and this was found to be a success.
Last year, millet was raised in the Fort garden. It sprang from the camel manure which was
used in the soil. It grew sufficiently well to show that there were possibilities of its being grown
on a large scale. Maize or Indian corn has also been grown in small quantities.
Three years ago a crop of rice was grown by Khan Bahadur Abdul Aziz Gozaibi, who is a
large landowner and interested in agriculture. The rice was grown in rich, well-watered land
near Sehlah; the seed was from Hassa, where it is cultivated extensively, and the crop yielded a
small profit.
A little maize or Indian corn is grown in some gardens, and finds a ready sale in the bazaar;
the quality is poor, probably because no care is taken to procure good seed.
Cotton. In the time of the Caliphs, cotton from Bahrain used to be sent to Baghdad,
but it is not certain that this cotton was grown in the islands, as at that
time much of the mainland was also known as Bahrain. In 1930 an experiment was made in growing
About this item
- Content
This volume is an administration report covering the years 1926 to 1937 (though in some subjects the report goes further back than 1926) and deals mainly with the activities of the Bahrain Government. It includes text, photographic images, graphs and tables. The report was based on annual reports of the financial and government departments which are made every year. A contents page can be found on folio 3, followed by a General Review by Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, dated December 1937 (folio 4).
The contents are divided into the following sections and sub-sections:
- Finance (folio 5): Revenue;
- The State Police and Public Security (folios 5v-10v): The Levy Corps, Political Disturbances, Attempt to assassinate the Shaikh, Indian Levy Corps, Crime and Prostitution, Drugs and Liquor, The State Jail, The Present Police Force, Administration and Routine, Changing Nature of Duties, Recent Innovations, Police Band, Camel Section, Shooting, Uniforms, Police Training in India, and The Naturs;
- Customs Department and Revenue (folios 10v-13v): Organisation and Establishment, Revenue (Customs Duty, Import Yard charges, Khanchieh, Porterage, Pier Fees, Landing Company, Mainland Cargo, Optional Cargo System, Transhipment Cargo), Transit Cargo, Export Dues, Boat-Building, Customs Improvements, Steamship Lines, and Future Improvements;
- Judicial (folios 13v-19v): Institution of Courts, The Bahrain Court (Criminal Cases, Civil Cases, Diving Cases, Land Cases, Fish-Trap Cases), The Bahrain Small Court, Shera [Sharia] Court (Sunni and Shia), The Mejlis Tajara [Majlis Tijārah] and Diving Court, Small Mixed Court, Laws and Codes, Police Regulations, and Judicial Legislation (Diving Regulations, Wakils Elected representative or attorney, acting in legal matters such as contracting marriage, inheritance, or business; a high-ranking legal official; could also refer to a custodian or administrator. , Mortgages, Appeals, Statute of Limitations, Liability of Government Servants);
- Public Works (folios 19v-23v): Roads, Buildings (Suk al-Khamis [Sūq al-Khamīs] Mosque, Idari Water Channel and Mosque, Manamah School and Workshop, Barracks, Police Station, New Customs House, Shops, Palace Wall, Law Courts, Bazaar Buildings, Jufair Naval Base, and Manamah-Muharraq Road;
- Land Registration (folios 23v-24v): Survey, Reports on Land Cases, Registration of Sales and Titles, Mortgages, Government Title Deeds, Fish-Traps, and Leases and Government Forms;
- Education (folios 24v-27v): Formation of an Education Committee, Muharraq School Built, Jaffarieh [al-Ja‘farīyah] School, Opening of a Girls' School, Appointment of a School Inspector, Strike of Students and Masters, Reforms in the Schools, Disappearance of School Committees, Amalgamation of Manamah Boys' Schools, Technical Education, Bahrain Boys at Beyrout University [American University of Beirut], Education of the Ruling Family, and Future Development of Education;
- Electric Department (folios 27v-29r): Original Installation, Muharraq Extension, Share of Municipalities, Progress, State Engineer, Progress, First Profitable Year, Future Prospects, Telephone System, and Summary of Seven Years' Working;
- Agriculture (folios 29r-31v): Land Tenure, Date Cultivation, Lucerne, Cereals, Cotton, Tobacco, Fruit Trees, and Vegetables.
- Wakf [Waqf] Administration (ff. 31v-35r): Nature of Wakfs, Shaikh Khalaf, Syed Adnan's Administration, Appointment of a Council, Previous attempts to organise Wakf Department, Progress of Administration and Elections, Results, Future Development, and Sunni Wakf Administration;
- Passport Department (folio 35r);
- Municipalities (folios 35r-38r): Constitution and History (Manamah and Muharraq), Municipal Finance, Municipal Taxation, Municipal Achievement, Roads, Manamah (Conservancy, Sanitation, Water Supply, Malaria, Fire Precautions, Markets and Food Regulations, Public Health Measures, Gardens, Cemeteries), and Muharraq Municipality;
- The Pearl-Diving Industry (folios 38r-40v): General, The Diving System, The Reforms, Demonstrations by Divers, The Slump, Diving Mortgages, Divers' Debts, Transfer of Divers, The Catch, and Recent Changes;
- Social and Political Developments (folios 41r-42v): Arabs and Baharna, The Baharna, The Townsfolk, Houses, Games, Class Changes, The Ruling Family, and The Women.
Photographic images appear on eleven folios, and they are labelled as follows:
- Folio 7: 'Sooq Al Khamis Mosque' and 'A Village Dispensary';
- Folio 11: 'An Artesian Well (Showing head of water)' and 'A Natural Spring (Adari [‘Adhārī])';
- Folio 14: 'Meat Market', 'Slaughter House', and 'Metal Vegetable Market (Under Construction)';
- Folio 15: 'Modern Village in Manamah', 'A Street in Manamah', and 'Municipal Garden, Manamah';
- Folio 16: 'A Small Pearling Dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. ';
- Folio 21: 'New Customs House and Round-about', 'Government Shops', and 'Women's Dispensary';
- Folio 22: 'The Palace Manamah', 'Manamah Muharraq Sea Road', and 'The Road (From the Sea)';
- Folio 25: 'Manamah Boys' School', 'School Workshops', and 'A Village School';
- Folio 30: 'A road in Manamah' and 'Street in Muharraq';
- Folio 32: 'A Policeman' and 'Police on Parade';
- Folio 33: 'Buildings Constructed by Bahrain Government at Naval Base, Jufair [al-Jufayr]', 'Clerk in Charge's House', 'Canteen', and 'Officer's Building'.
Folio 17 is a graph entitled 'A decade of Customs Progress'. A note on the title page reads 'Property of H.B.M. Embassy Bahrain' (folio 2r) and the back cover includes a label that reads: 'Printed at the Dolphin Press, Brighton, England' (folio 43v).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (43 folios)
- Arrangement
This file contains a page of contents (folio 3) which references pages of the report.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: Folios 1-43.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/R/15/1/750/1
- Title
- 'Government of Bahrain Administrative Report for the Years 1926-1937'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:42v, back-i, back
- Author
- Belgrave, Sir Charles Dalrymple
- Usage terms
- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.