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Coll 30/52(3) 'Bahrein Intelligence Summaries 1946' [‎159r] (319/472)

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The record is made up of 1 file (233 folios). It was created in 29 Jan 1948-14 Feb 1950. 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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Mackenzie & Co„ ? that the landing rates should be increased
by RSol /8 porton both on bag cargo and other cargo. Shaikh
Abdullah bin Isa, uncle of His Highness, and Mr*; . Belgrave,
the Adviser to the Bahrain Government, were also present.
Most of the meeting was spent in bringing up and replying to
the old charges of pilferage of cargo and delay in transport
ing cargo between Sitra and Manamah. Much time was also
devoted to a discussion about the depth of Manamah harbour and
suggestions that it should be surveyed. When the question
they had met to discuss was eventually put to those present
by His Highhess the merchants unanimously declined to agree
to any further increase in the landing charges.
194. LABOUR.
(i) There have been no great fluctuations in post
war prices in Bahrain (controls have only been removed very
gradually), but there is a flourishing black market, and
the Bahrain economy is influenced by the inflation in Saudi
Arabia. This is true especially of the labour market. The
high wages being paid at Dhahran, Ras Tanura, and Dammam continue
•-to attract labour away from Bahrain and the Government is
reported to be contemplating the reintroduction of their former
ban on the migration of labour to the mainland. The great
discontent it aroused at the time and the fact that it would
be extremely difficult to render such a ban really effective
has so far deterred the Bahrain Government from re-imposing
it.
(ii) The Bahraini Labourer has always been a seasonal
worker, either agriculturist or pearl diver, and though the
moribund pearl industry no longer attracts him he continues
as of habit to change the place and nature of his occupation.
The Bahrain Petroleum Company have been attempting to chock
the seasonal migration‘of their labour by introducing a pro
vident fund for them, but without success. That the Company
should give him money the labourer understands, but that he
should again give it to the Company he does not understand,
195. FURTHE R L OCAL AFFnlRS,
(i) On the 17th Shaikh Salman bin Muhammad bin Isa
al Khalifah, one of the Bahrain Court Judges, who had been
spending the summer in the Lebanon, returned to Bahrain.
(ii) On the 17th His Highness left Bahrain on a visit
to the neighbouring small island of Umm Na’san, which is
the private property of the Ruling Shaikh. He was accompanied
by his uncle, Shaikh Abdullah and other members of the ruling
family. The party returned to Bahrain on the 19th.
(iii) For many months past the Adviser to the Bahrain
Government has had as one of his manifold activities the
construction of a ’’water garden” outside Manamah town at,
it is said, 'a cost exceeding Rs.10,000/-. Some marshy
land has been reclaimed and filled in to make two artificial
lakes the channel between iwhich is spanned by a "willow
pattern” bridge, while an octagonal bandstand in 19th century
municipal style rears itself incongruously in the Bahrain
scene. On the 24th, Mr. Belgrave held an aquacade, arranged
by himself, to open the garden to the public. Practically
all departments of the Bahrain Government were mobilised for
tie occasion. The Shaikh's arrival was sounded by the

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Content

The file contains fortnightly intelligence summaries produced by the Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. at Bahrain for January 1948 until January 1950 (not for the year 1946 as the title suggests). The reports, marked as secret, were sent to the Government of India, the 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. , and numerous British diplomatic, political, and military offices in the Middle East.

The reports are divided into short sections that relate to a particular subject. Contained within the file is intelligence on the following topics:

  • Shipping
  • Visits of British and foreign notables
  • Economic and commercial matters
  • Local news and affairs, as well as that of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, and the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates.
  • The work of Bahrain Petroleum Company, and the oil industry more generally
  • American interests in the region
  • Local reaction to international events such as those in Palestine and Syria
  • The activities of the Royal Navy
  • The supply of electricity, water and telecommunications
  • Aviation
  • The work of the Middle East Anti-Locust Unit
  • The traffic of slaves
  • Quarantine and medical matters
  • Weather and meteorological data.

There are occasional hand-written comments in the margins of the reports.

In addition to the reports, the file contains a copy of a letter sent from the Government of Pakistan's Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations Department in Karachi to British officials in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain concerning the alleged kidnapping and enslavement of girls in Baluchistan by 'Arab traders in dates', 9 March 1949 (folio 91).

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (233 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 235; 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.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Coll 30/52(3) 'Bahrein Intelligence Summaries 1946' [‎159r] (319/472), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3769B, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100058256414.0x000078> [accessed 5 April 2025]

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