"ملف 53/32 III (D 53) مسائل متنوعة خاصة بالكويت" [ظ‎‎٢‎١‎٨] (٤٨٦/٤٤٥)

Hamad al -Khalid is a dour, bntkindly, old man
of old-fashioned views. During the War he
started to lead the Pro-Turk party—until Shaikh
Mubarak made it clear that there was to be no
Pro-Turk Party in Kuwait. There is now nothing 1
anti-British about him.
Shaikh. } usuf hin 'Isa is a schoolma ter and
intriguer whi» is mixed up with every underhand
plot in Kuwait.
There are of course many others who are in
a position to influence the Shaikh but the above
are the most important. Two other men, not
Kuwait subjects, whose characters are wonh
considering are 'Abdullah an-Nafisi and Shaikh
Hafidh ah bah.
Abdullah an-XaJisi is Ibn Sa'ud's Agent in
Kuwait. He is a pleasant and tactful man, who
is liked by everyone in the place. Though Agent
to the Wahhabi King, he is one of the heaviest
smokers I have eeen.
Shaikh {or Mull a) Hafidh W ahhah is an
Egyptian who has been in Ibn Sa'ud's service for
the last few years. He has the reputation of
being rabidly anti-British, and is said to have
been deported from ^Iraq during the War—though
I do not remember his case myself—and was
deported from Bahrain in 1922* Personally I
think that his reputation is largely, if not entirely,
unearned; and that he was really much more
anti-Daly than anti-British—he certainly did
dislike Major Daly, and probably said so in
Bahrain. I was naturally very suspicious of him
when he came here, and watched him carefully,
but have never heard of him saying or doing
anything in the slightest degree anti-British.
He is a well educated man but does not give
the impression of being in any way brilliant.
Ibn Sa ud is not well off for educated men, and,
with the exception of Dr. ^Abdullah Effendi
Damluji, I think Shaikh Hafidh is about the best
I have met.
The Town of Kuwait now measures about three
miles along the shore, having extended consider
ably in recent years towards the east. Its greatest
depth, about one mile, is near the centre of the
town, where the long suburb called Mui-qab has
grown out from it towards the south-east. The
streets are irregular and winding, and the town
is not laid out on any general plan. Most of
the houses have only a ground floor, but appear
higher, owing to a parapet-v\ all enclosing the roof.
There are over forty mosques, of which nine are
Friday congregational mosques. None of them
have any architectural merit. In the year 1920
the existing Town Wall was built by the late
shaikh Salim. It is a little over four miles in
length, and has three gates. In addition to the
gates, which are protected by toners, there is a
tower about every two hundered yards throughout
the length of the wall.
The Inhabitants are for the most part Arabs
of the 'Utub, 'Awazim, Rashaidah, Bani Khalid,
Dawasir, 'Ajman, 'Anizah and Dhafir tribes,
besides Arabs from Hasa, etc. There are also a
large number of Persians (mostly engaged in
menial pursuits) and many negroes. The Jewish
community numbers about 160 souls and the
Christians only a few families. India-is have
» F. No. 480-X—23.
never made good' in Kuwait, and are much
despised. There are only three or four in the
town.
The Population ie believed to be somewhere in
tie neighbour of 50,000.
Education. There are a great number of
schools of a sort in Kuwait. The Arabs conduct
at lea-t fifty two; the Persians have eleven, and
the Jews and Christians one ench, making a total
of at Last sixty five. Of the A.ab schools
twenty seven are for boys and twenty five for
girls. These schoola are not under any control
by the local (Jovernment. Most of the boys'
schools and all the girls' schools teach nothing
Tioi read . in g of the Quran ; and up to the end
of 1911 no higher form of education was available
in the town.
At present The American Mission School gives
by far the best education in Kuwait, particularly as
regards English, but it only has twenty boys
which is about all it can accommod ite.
Ihe Mnbarakiyah School was established in
1912, about the same time as the Mission School
A sum of Rs. 85,000 was collected by public
subscription, of which Ks. 40,001' was used tc
build a school, with many large class-rooms and
verandahs r-und a courtyard, a'>d the balance
kept as an endowment fund. It has a Board of
Trustees in charge of its affairs. Irs income is
derived from the endowment and the fees for
pupils, who pay Rs. 2 a month each. There is a
headmaster and six assistant masters ;.r;d about
220 boys, who are graded in classes. The curri
culum includes the Quran, Traditions, canon law,
ethics, Arabic reading, composition and grammar,
arithmetic, geography, history an 1 English. It
is thus far advanced from the "usual mulla sch(K)l,
but even so it does not pretend to give more than
a primary educat on.
The Ahmadiyah School wis founded in the
autumn of 1921 under the auspices of tbe Muslim
Bene/, lent Association, wi h the ass stance ot
the present Ruler, after whom it was named. It
has its own Board of Trustees. Its income is
deii\cd from the fees of siudente^ supplemented
by annual contributions from benevolent residents,
and it is therefore not on a very secure basis It
has seven masters and 165 boys, and is
carnculum is the same as that of the Mubarakiyah
Srh tol, but it is planned to make it into a
secondary school when—or if—they can o-et
qualified masters at the salaries which they can
afford to pay.
The Orphanage School for orphans and other
poor boys is supported entirely by one family of
wealthy pe^rl merchants. It has six masters and
about 130 boys, and teaehes the usual Quranic
branches, with history and arithmetic in addition.
1 here are c ght other schools for Arab boys whn-h
teach a little arithmetic, in addition" to the
reading of the Quran.
I ei si in Schools which teach writing and
arithmetic, in addition to the reading of the
Quran, are three in number; while there are
eight others which teach the last subject only.
Agriculture. —In Kuwait and its environs is
practically nil. There are no date plantations of
any value, hardly any fields and not many kitchen
gardens. The villages to the south-east of