Coll 30/52(1) 'Persian Gulf. Diaries: Bahrain News and Intelligence Reports' [‎46r] (93/1077)

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(ii) Captain J.B. Howes, I.A., left Sharjah
on the 26th March for Muscat where he will officiate
as Political Agento The post of Political Officer,
Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , is temporarily in abeyance.
(iii) Mr. Kanwar Singh who has been appointed
Sub-Postmaster here arrived on the 20th March and
relieved Mr. Zafar Hussein who left for India on
leave on the 25th March. Mr. Zafar Hussein’s long
and arduous service in Bahrain has, it is understood,
been rewarded by a posting to Gwadur.
32• Foreign Interests
His Excellency H.A. Paul Knabenshue, United
States' Minister in 'Iraq, arrived here on the 24th
March accompanied by the United States' Vice-Consul
at Baghdad, Mr. W.J. Porter. 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.
took him to visit His Highness the Shaikh of Bahrain
I on the 26th March. The interview ended with His
! Highness still in considerable confusion as to the
✓ ' identity of his distinguished visitor.
The Minister left for A1 Khobar on the 27th
whence he intended to travel by land to Kuwait.
33. Local Affairs
(i) In the last wo or three years some of the
younger members of the Shaikhly Family, though not
, the sons of Shaikh Hamad himself, have caused considerable
scandal by their drunkenness. After a good deal of
encouragement His Highness was induced to promise
that if they continued to be drunk and disorderly he
[would deal very firmly with them, and this promise
has now been put into effect in one case. Shaikh Ali,
son of His Highness' brother Shaikh Abdullah, indulged
jin a particularly revolting drunken bout a few days
ago and has now been banished for an indefinite period
to Hawar. The pleasures of Hawar are confined to
watching a fev; fishermen gut their catch, and the
result of this action should be admirable.
(ii) Among other steps being taken to reduce
malaria in Manama the Anti-Malaria Committee have
decided to arrange for the closing of all shallow
wells in compounds within 200 yards of public artesian
crater supplies. Certain persons appear to have seen
in this an opportunity to cause difficulties for the
Bahrain Government and some small agitstion began
recently, designed to induce householders to believe
that the Government's object was to sell them drinking
water. The Shia ex-Qadhi Shaikh Abdullah is believed
to have been mainly responsible for this and although
it has not been possible to prove anything definite
against him he is now under close surveillance. Mean
while the Bahrain Government have been advised to make
use of the present Shia and Sunni Oadhis and of news
paper and other propaganda to remove this false imp
ression, and latest reports indicate that ill-feeling
has subsided. It may be noted that these shallow
wells have been used solely for water for washing,
that /-