File 8/9 Annual Report on the State of Bahrain for the year AH 1351 [‎79r] (162/200)

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as and when they chose. This loose arrangement
was very unsatisfactory ? and created considerable
unnecessary difficulty m the collection of the dues.
3o, as each sanad fell due for pjyment I proceeded to
impound the craft concerned, until p:yment; and I am
glad to report that I collected all the pearling
license fees due to the State without having recourse
to the courts at all.
The permission to ive sanad, however, has created
an unfortunate precedent ? which I fear will be resorted
to again this year with its consequent trouble in
collecting the dues which ought to have been prepaid
before the rekba.
Harbour lights . The institution of the large flight
on the customs pier atManamah has worthily served its
nuruose, and it is admitted to be of assistance to
craft entering or leaying^the port at or after sunset,
hdth this exuerience in mind, the oil lamp at the mast
head at the Ifeharaq customhouse was rerlaced with an
hundred-watt white electric light;^ and this light has
proved to be of even greater benefit both to steamers
and native craft than was at first hoped, for its range
of vision is not interrupted by the date palms at
Galalee, so that it can be^distinguished at some dis
tance beyong the outer (white) buoy. I am informed
that the light is especially useful to the pearling
fleets; so^for that reaspn it is proposed to light
it throughout the season instead of (as at present)
half the month, and when steamers are expected or m
port.
The Manamah light ranks in.the Admiralty sailing
directions as an ’occasional* light, i*e. ? one t 9 be^
lighted upon request; and since Bahrain is not m uhe
direct line of Gulf traffic, it is well that it should
direct line oi oun ^ra^nc,
remain so; but 1 understand from navigating o^.dicers,
and particularly from H.M.S."Ormonde” that the existence
of the two lights is a very definite help to ships enter
ing the port after sunset m making a suitable.anchorage.
The only other urgent improvement m the lighting of
the port needed at present is the altering o^. the ^esu
Spit'Buoy into a lighted buoy, and preferably a flash
light.
A suggestion has been made that a light should be
put upon the Portuguese Port; but I do not.approve of
this at present, as there are so many practical diifi-
culties in the way of its efficient maintenance tnat
it really would not be prudent to undertake the res
ponsibility for such a light.
It has sometimes been urged that the old beacon
built uron the Has Zarwan by Mirza Ismail (the iirst
B.I.3.N.Goy t s agent in Bahrain) and thus popularxy
known as tne ’Gray Paul* beacon, should be li^, tne
reason being that this.beacon, and tne ^est
buoy and the Manamah Pier light are m transit,
consequently this fact wopld enable a steamer at night
quite readily to find a.safe_anchorage. But there is
no need to urge this point since not iiye per.cent
of the steamers using'this port enter it at night,
and the suggestion is of very minor.importance compared
with the need for a lighted West Spit Buoy.