'ملف رقم 19/169 III (C 80) الإصلاحات في البحرين' [و‎‎٦‎٣] (٣٧٨/١٣٨)

7/—
monopoly and "tiiere would, be li'ttle chance of breaking that,
monopoly unless a preferential customs tariff enabled Bahrain
to put its product on the market in 'India at a competitive
price. As you know Indian products pay five per cent duty
in Bahrain — except for certain articles of luxury which
pay ten per cent. Would it therefore be possible to enquire
from India what their normal tariff on mother-of-pearl buttons
is whether they would give Bahrain a preferential rate
corresponding to the Bahrain rate on Indian goods ?
4, I think too that it ought to be possible to do something
with the flesh of the hundreds of thousands of oysters which
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are fished up annually in the pearling. It might be possible
to extract valuable oils, for after all the flesh of the
edible oyster at any rate is supposed to be full of vitamins;
and I should like to know, if the information can be obtained
in London, whether pearl fisheries in other parts of the world,
e.g. Australia, run any subsidiary industries for the extrac
tion of saleable commodities from the flesh of the oyster.
Alternatively it might be possible to turn the flesh into
a valuable manure.
5. Another possibility is to rationali se the fishing_
industry of Bahrain. Large quantities of dried xish are
exported, but everything is done in such a hap-hazard manner
that I feel convinced that the proiits are nothing like the
size they ought to be.
t
6. You have had personal experience of the excellence
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of the Bahrain prawns# A small toirt proxitablo industry
r-^Tm 9
might well be created Dy tinning th es e prawns# Admittedly
it would not be a twelve-months-a-year industry ^ •- or txie
prawns come and go without much regard for dates and seasons
as far as I can make out# Nevertheless there should be
money in this5 and employment for a certain number of people.