"ملف ٥٠/٦ مطالبة محمد بن صباح آل بن علي من قبيلة آل بن علي بالإعفاء من الضرائب" [و‎‎٩] (٦٦/١٧)

Cf
C's. P. P.—L (in) ia6—500-4-31.
No..
The Agency, Bahrain,
Dated the 1 5til August . 193 2,
From
The Political Agent,
BAHRAIN.
To
The Secretary to the Hon’ble the Political Resident
in the Persian Gulf, Bushire.
Sir,
I have the honour to saj that certain tribes in Bahrain
formerly enjoyed a considerable degree of inciependence and. it
was their truculent behaviour and insistence on their independ
ence that leiid to the expiiksicn of the Dowasir during _ajor
Daly’s tour of duty here.
2# Since their reorganisation the Bahrain Government have
consistently resisted these claims to independence. Indeed
they are inconsistent tfith any degree of sovereignty for
Bahrain-is too small to admit of any enclaves. A fresh
instance of a claim to,at any rate,fiscal independence has
recently come to light anc. it is this v^hich is the subject
of my letter.
3. The Bahrain Government in search of fresh revenue recently
imposed a Re.l/-per annum tax upon all fish traps. Muhammad
bin Subah al Bin Ali of the Bin Ali tribe promptly produced
certain documents,of which I enclose copies,under which he
claimed exemption from all taxation and the Bahrain Government
asked me wnether mere was any information forthcoming regarding
tne matter on ay files. I caused a search to be made but nothing
has been discovered since tne period related to about 1896 is not
one covered by our records. It seems unlikely to me,however,tnat
an action likely to have very far reaching effects could have been
taken without a reference to Bushire and I would be glad if you
would cause a search to be made and send me any information that
is likely to be useful regarding the circumstances under which
these