Coll 30/192(1) ‘Persian Gulf. Defence BAHRAIN.’ [‎68r] (135/327)

Ittib, but h« has boen told to go vary alowly and carafully
•bout this,
5# To return to Bahrain. I advised tha Bahrain Government
to lapoaa price control on esaem.lal foodstuffs befors tha war
broks out ana this was a vary popular move. Tha Bahrain Govern
ment* s ordvr of course did not strictly apply to forslgn mar*
chants| but tha latter ware not sura of this ^nd In point of
feet there have only b^en two prosecutions so far against
foreign dealers in foodstuffs. I need not tell you exactly
what auction of las 1 found to «pply to these people before
our own food control regulation wes Issued \ The Bahrain
Government have ordered some 30 1 000 begs of rice which sre
now on their way and will be kept as • reservs In case of need.
The order actually went off before war broke out when we were
not quite sure whether the 3.I.3.H. ships would continue to
function regularly. The export of ' f meat on the hoof'* from
Arr/ois having been stooped, arrongenfant» have been made to
ensure the continuance of nn adequate supply from nnother
country whose Customs officials are susceptible to inducement
to keep their eyes shut. >o fer there has bf>en no rise in the
price of meat except the norranl rise which comes with the
approach of Bamrdhan. As for other orticles of household use
we have been working out rather carefully means to stop the
profiteering which has occurred already rand I hope to out
these plans into operation in a few days* time. One advantage
of war la thut one certainly learns a grs^t deal about the basaar
which one never knew before* We ftave had to go slowly over this
business of controlling prices of articles other than foodstuffs
since it Is cla«rly essential not to antagonise the merchants
overmuch, if only bsc&uas they know a good deal more about their
business than 1 do end would unquestionably evade any rules
which cut their profits too severely. Byard has been putting in
a great deal of work on this pro bits® and has been most ussful