'File 8/16 Bahrain Intelligence Summary' [‎29r] (57/108)

V .
SECRET .
NO. 14 of 1945.
?
Intelligence Summary of the
Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , Bahrain, for
the period 15th to 31st July 1945 .
112. SHIPPING .
Eleven ships (five British, four American, one Dutch,
and one Panamanian) called at Bahrain during the period under
report. The imports consisted of 3,192 tons general cargo
for Bahrain and 121 tons for transhipment to the mainland.
The exports were 76 tons general cargo and 74,100 tons petroleum
products.
113 • MOVEMENTS OF OFFICIALS .
(i) Reference paragraph 103(ii) of Bahrain Intelligence
Summary No. 13 of 1945.
On the 17th July the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. arrived by air
from Sharjah accompanied by Captain R.C. Murphy, Political
Officer, Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. .
^ (ii) On the 19th July, Captain R.C. Murphy, Political
Officer, Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , left by air for Jerusalem.
114. THE AMERICAN VICE-CONSULATE. DHAHRAN .
Mr. Walter W. Birge has taken over as Vice-Consul of
the United States of America at Dhahran from Mr. William L.
Sands who, it is understood, has reverted to his post at Jedda.
115. PETROLEUM CONCESSIONS. LIMITED .
Mr. Heseldin, Assistant Manager of the ’Iraq Petroleum
Company, Haifa, and Mr. Dixon, the ox-engineer in charge of
the Qatar Oil Field accompanied by Mr. w&tts, who is a
contractor for Indian labour, visited Bahrain on July the 23rd.
The object of their visit was to concert measures which, if
it is possible to bring them to fruition, will resulc in the
re-working of the Qatar field.
.16.
QATAR AGAIN .
Reference paragraph 106 of those summaries.
For an hour and a half, after sitting with him in the
Joint Court, the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. listened to His Highness the
Sheikh on the subject of his claims, rights, wrongs and griev
ances in and concerning Qatar. Since the implication of most
of the Sheikh's arguments was, as usual, that he had sovereign
rights in part of Qatar territory ( Zubarah 18th-century town located 105 km from Doha. ) - rights which
His Majesty’s Government have never admitted - the conversa
tions resulted in little else but the exhaustion of the
Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. .
117 • the weatjer alp the ELECTRICAL SUPPLY .
The local people say that for ten years Bahrain has not
had weather of the severity experienced within the period
covered by this summary. For days and nights without inter
mission the heat has been steamy and intense, and there has
been no wind to relieve the continuous furnace-like atmosphere
or ruffle the oily expanse of water in Manamah bay. It was
during this ffxxxxx that fate decreed that the electrical system
in Bahrain should sporadically cease to function for long hours
at a time. The reasons for this are that the engines driving
the generators are old, and more particularly (and more
importantly) they have never been properly maintained. The
present State Engineer received them as a somewhat grim legacy
and during the last fortnight has been perhaps (and this is