"التقرير السنوي لحكومة البحرين لسنة ١٣٦٢ (يناير ١٩٤٣ - ديسمبر ١٩٤٣)" [ظ‎‎٢‎٩‎٦] (٧٢/٤٢)

38
Over 12 ooo passengers landed in Bahrain during the year ; 10,647 came by launches and
dhows, 1,536 in steamers and 435 by air, this does not include service passengers. Particulars of
all persons leaving or arriving are registered by the Department.
Destitute Persians continued to be landed on the coast from sailing boats which usually
succeeded in escaping capture. During the year 41 persons were caught while landing and were sent
back to their places of origin. In the summer there was a round up of beggars and a number of them,
who had entered Bahrain illegally, were repatriated.
Eighteen persons, mostly Persians, became naturalized Bahrain subjects. A large proportion
of the leading Persian merchants and shopkeepers have now adopted Bahrain nationality. The
condition under which Bahrain nationality is granted includes not less than ten years' residence in the
country and the ownership of a house or place of business.
FOOD CONTROL.
The problem of providing suitable and sufficient food for the people of Bahrain, arranging its
distribution and combating profiteering, hoarding and unjustified increases in prices became more
difficult during the year under review. Conditions of starvation and malnutrition were apparent,
especially in some of the villages, during the last quarter of 1942 ; these conditions seemed to improve
early in 1943 but again deteriorated between April and June ; from June till December conditions
steadily improved till by the end of the year scarcely any malnutrition cases were being seen in the
hospitals. Two reasons contributing towards the improvement were the increased amount of employ
ment in Bahrain and more satisfactory arrangements for the sale and distribution of food.
During the year rice ceased to be available in. Bahrain as a ration though till the end of the year a
little could be bought in the black market at a very high price. Stocks of rice though carefully rationed
and augmented by 200 tons which were purchased from Dubai were exhausted by end of October. At
the beginning of the year the ration of an adult was 20 lbs. of cereals which included 8 lbs. of rice, the
rice ration was reduced in March to 4 lbs. and in September to 2 lbs. In October it ceased altogether.
It was found that wheat was the only cereal which could be regarded as a substitute for rice and each
reduction in the rice ration was followed by an increase in the wheat ration until eventually wheat
entirely superseded rice. The monthly ration of 20 lbs. of cereals was maintained throughout the year.
It is not a generous ration in a country where few alternate foods exist; in large households the ration
appears to be sufficient but in a family of two or three it is difficult to exist on the ration. Towards the
end of the year Bahrain was supplied with some barley which was sold to the public. It was extremely
unpopular and quite useless to certain communities as it could only be eaten in the form of flour and
many people had neither the means of milling it nor were they able to bake bread. Rationing in
Bahrain is complicated by the great difference in the manner of living in the towns and in the villages.
The townspeople, especially the foreigners, eat bread, the villagers rarely eat bread and do not possess
ovens or bakeries. All communities however eat crushed wheat which can be made into a form of
porridge and mixed with date juice or fish or meat when it is available.
During the year there was a serious increase in bacillary dysentery. In the Government
hospital twice as many cases were seen in 1362 as in 1361. 1 here is no reason to believe that infantile
mortality increased very greatly though it is not possible to check the figures as registration of births
and deaths has not yet been enforced in Bahrain. I he public ascribed all illnesses entirely to the
fact that rice was unobtainable, while this opinion was not justifiable there seems no doubt that the
wheat diet was partly responsible for the dysentery by irritating an alimentary canal already latent
with this infection and thus exacerbated by the disease.
The following shows the cereal ration at the beginning and at the end of the year
Muharram (January 1943). Dul Haj (December 1943)-
8 lbs. rice 4 |b s - fl our
6 lbs. flour 4 Js. barley
6 lbs. wheat 12 lh *. wheat
20 lbs.
20 lbs.