Coll 30/9(2) 'Admin. Reports of the Persian Gulf - 1945 -' [‎162r] (323/1148)

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economy — to permit Persian Pilgrims not in possession
of valid national passports to enter Saudi Arabia for the
pilgrimage, and to the Persian Government's refusal, also
at the instance of the Minister Resident, to visa their
nationals' passports for that purpose, the pilgrimage this
year was the smallest in living memory. All the Persians
who came to Kuwait for the pilgrimage returned without
making it. No Iraqis made the pilgrimage from Kuwait, and
only 375 Kuwaitis did so — 340 of them on camels.
(h) PEARLING .
The high cost of fitting out the ships and the
difficulty in obtaining ships' gear of all Kinds prevented
all but a fraction of the prewar pearling fleet from
putting to sea. The diving was further hampered by rough
weather and the break for Ramdhan. The catch was little
over half of last year’s and prices were from 10% to 15%
higher than in 1943.
(i) SHIP-BUILDING .
The Kuwait ship-building and ship-repairing
industries were badly dislocated this summer by the failure
to secure adequate stocks of timber from India and many
dhows were laid up for lack of wood to repair them. The
shipwrights, however, who normally do this work were all
kept fully employed assembling barges for the Army at
Bandar Shuwaikh.
(j) SHORTAGE OF DRINKING WATER .
The water-ships of the Water Supply Company had
been allowed to fall into disrepair to such an extent that
by the summer only 28 remained to fulfil the needs of Che
entire town. The result was an acute shortage of water
when winds were light and craft were becalmed; and, had
the Kuwait Oil Company not come to the rescue by running
water barges from Abadan, the situation would have been
critical indeed. To prevent a recurrance of the crisis
Che Water Supply Company plan to build ten new ships next
spring, and a special application has been made to the
Government of India for the release of materials.
V. DESERT INTERESTS.
Arrivals of considerable quantities of second
hand overcoats from the U.S.A. together with the institution
of control over the prices and distribution of piece-goods
and the extension of the food rationing system have
somewhat aleviated the lot of the bedouin; but they are
still the chief sufferers from the lack of rice. Unlike
the townsmen, they do not know how to make bread from the
wheat, wheat flour, and barley issued to them as cereal
rations; nor can they afford grinding stones or. the
necessary cooking utensils. Instead, they use the cereals
to make a coarse porridge which gives rise to serious
digestive ailments, especially in children.
The plentiful grazing resulting from the
excellent rains early in the winter, however, has much
improved the condition of their flocks and they now have
more milk and meat to sell in the town than for many
months past.
VI./