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'File 8/8 II Annual Administration Report of The Bahrain Agency' [‎88r] (175/720)

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The record is made up of 1 file (358 folios). It was created in 16 Jan 1941-15 Feb 1944. 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. .

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• • •
and the Shaikh’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs) in employment
matters is essential at this stage as there is no law nor
order apart from the Shaikh and his bodyguard, and no other
approach to the labour market would be countenanced.
Apart from the annual concession payment to the
shaikh the Qatar people themselves benefited to the extent
of some three lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. in cash spent by the Company
in Qatar (luring 1940. 2^ lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees was expended in Bahrain
for Qatar operations.
(These figures, of course, do not include the cost of
equipment and stores sent from London and \merica)
(o) Qatar Terminal Survey
In December 1940 a short preliminary examination of
the coastal waters of the east coast of Qatar was made with
a view to locating a ’’terminal” for future oil export.
?*!ore detailed surveys will be carried out In early 1941.
(d) Company’s Communications
(i) W/T.
The Company has its own W/T. Station in Dukhan
(Qatar) which has four short watches daily with Cable &
Wireless, Ltd., Bahrain.
(li) Launch Service
The Company has two seagoing motor launches and
runs a regular weekly service for passenger, mails and
stores between Sitrah, Bahrain and Zekrit (Qatar).
Security arrangements for these trips based on
,V /T. messages between Bahrain and Qatar are now very
unsatisfactory owing to delay due to censorship regula
tions. This will be remedied when radio-telephones
are Installed in the launches.
(iii) Hoads & Tracks
The tracks in Qatar are passable to motor vehicles
with oversize tyres except for two or three days after
heavy rain.
The Company have found it advisable to improve and
oil the road linking up Zekrit Jetty-Dukhan Caron and
No.2 Well.
The track Joining Dukhan Camp and the Ruler’s head
quarters (Dohah and Riyan) is mainly stony and hard and
easily passable although rough. The distance is 62
miles and it takes 2j to 3 hours.
Until the full extent of the oil field becomes
clear and a terminal site is located there is nothing
on which the Company could base or Justify a road con
struction programme. This is mentioned as the Shaikh
never misses an opportunity of pressing for road making
schemes, to give employment to large numbers of his men
and incidentally increase revenues from his system of
registration fees and monthly levies on wages.

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Content

The file contains correspondence relating to the collation and submission of the annual Administration Report of the Bahrain Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. Office, as well as the reports themselves.

Present within the file are the reports for the years 1940-43. Each Bahrain Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. report contains a prose statement and sometimes statistics on all or most of the following subjects: Officers; Ruler of Bahrain and the Al Khalifa Family; Bahrain Police; Local Affairs; Bahrain Petroleum Company; Agriculture; Municipalities; Customs; Public Works; Electric Department; Pearling Industry; Boatbuilding and Shipping; British Interests; Post Office; Medical; Judicial; Visits of British Notables; Visits of Foreign Notables; Visits of Arab Notables; Qatar; Petroleum Concessions Limited; Foreign Interests; Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Fighter Fund; Accidents Within Port Limits; Education; Royal Air Force Levies; Economic; and Cable And Wireless Ltd. Each subject comes under its own sub-heading. Each report is signed by the officiating 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. at the time of submission to the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. at Bushire.

Each report on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. contains information on all or most of the following subjects: Personnel; Trucial Shaikhs; British Interests; Tours; Aviation; Royal Navy; Shipping; Medical; Raids and Disturbances; Oil; The [Second World] War; Red Oxide; Pearling; Fighter Fund; Local Affairs; Royal Air Force Levies; Economics; Security; Population.

Preceding each report is correspondence between 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. and the institutions and offices that provided reports and statistics for the final Administration Report. These include: Charles Belgrave, Advisor to the Government of Bahrain; the Director of Customs and Port Officer; the Postmaster or sub-Postmaster of the Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department; doctors and other employees of the American Mission Hospitals (men's and women's), the Victoria Memorial Hospital, and the Medical Department of the Bahrain Government; representatives of Bahrain Petroleum Company and Petroleum Concessions Ltd; the Political Officer at Sharjah; and representatives of The Eastern Bank and Cable and Wireless Ltd.

At the back of the file (folios 355-59) are internal office notes.

Extent and format
1 file (358 folios)
Arrangement

The file is arranged chronologically.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover and terminates at the back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'File 8/8 II Annual Administration Report of The Bahrain Agency' [‎88r] (175/720), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/299, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100025546701.0x0000b0> [accessed 23 February 2025]

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