'File 19/116 VIII (C 34) Bahrain Miscellaneous' [‎42r] (85/124)

J* .
yr ~
V
. x s
(more time wasted; to say that the recent decision that they must
file copies of their import certificates with the loaladiyyah
for rice tobacco and ghi will hit them hard as it will give away
the exact prices they have to pay, and the baladiyyah will not
keep this to themselves. I have told them that they elected the
baladiyyah and if they done like its work they must impress this
fact on their representatives. They all try pass the baby on to
me or the Bahrain Government, and I refuse to hold it. |
I had one of the greatest brainwaves of an otherwise inef- \
fective carxeer over the Bolo ship. I wrote to Belgrave about it
from Karachi, but when I arrived he told me that it was too late
and that someone had got there first, evidently the K.B.Md Sharif,
and that the Shaikh wd only say that * this was a poor year and
that all trade wa^ good.* I was afraid the pass was sold, but one I
night I suddenly v/oke up and laughed for I had hit on the means.
I sent for .Tasim Kanoo the next day and told him that a Bolo ship ^
was coming and that it wd carry oil and sugar, and that they wd
certainly undersell his oil and cre^e trouble. This is quite
true# I then told him that B.S. had refused them permission to landf
stuff at Jeddah, and that though the Shaikh believe that it wd help^
the port and that all trade was good, this wd not help any real
Bahrain firm, and that as they wd cut prices customs wd go down,
being ad valorem, and moreover that if they dumped a lot of oil
or sugar here they wd unsettle the market for months. I asked
him to go out and see the Shaikh and. without mentioing me see
whether he cd xvoid this blow to his and A.P.O.C interests. I had
ascertained that Md Sharif was not very keen on the agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. but
of course cd not afford to let any one else have it. Kanoo went
out to the Shaikh at once ( Noon ) and the effect was eletrqi#.
At 2.30 he was hammering at Belgrave* s door and asking him how
soon he cd stop the ships coimng in consultation with me. Then
he said * the King has fortiidden it in Jeddah, they are very bad
people * and B reminded him that he had told him the samo thing
thre r weeks before and he said 1 Qfi Yes Oh Yes, but this is very
dangerous. Please arrange with the Baliuz at once 1 Jasim can
certainly work the Shaikh. The S asked B how J",K knew, and B some
a.. un .„ re . tarbaot m storif ^ ^ ^ ^
mk