'Administration Report of the Persian Gulf for the Year 1936' [‎23v] (46/74)

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CHAPTER V.
ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE KUWAIT POLITICAL
AGENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. FOR THE YEAR 1936,
I.— T he P olitical A gency.
PersonnBl. —(a) Lt.-Colonel H. R. P. Dickson, C.I.E., I.A., htld
charge of the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. from the 1st January to the 3rd February.
Captain G. S. de Gaury, M.C., held charge from the 4th February
until the end of the year.
(b) Assistant Surgeon A. L. Greenway, M.R-C.S., L.R.C.P.
(Lond.), was in medical charge of the Charitable Dispensary and
performed the duties of Quarantine Officer throughout the year.
II.—T he R uling F amily.
His Excellency the Shaikh Sir Ahmad ibn Jabir as Subah has conti
nued to be the Ruler of Kuwait, and administered the State during the
year under review. His Excellency did not leave the Jtate.
2 Shaikh Abdulla as Salim (who has acted for the Ruler when he has
been absent) onlv left the State for a short visit to Baghdad by private
invitation in October. He contracted an illness in Baghdad which kept
him confined to his house until the end of the year.
3. The obligation of His Majesty's Government towards the Shaikh
of Kuwait in 1914 in guaranteeing freedom from taxation for his date
gardens in Iraq remains, as reported last year, undischarged although offi
cial correspondence on the subject continues.
HI. T he P olitical A gent's relations with the S haikh.
The relations between His Majesty's Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. and the Ruler
liave continued to be correct throughout the year.
IY.—L ocal I nterests.
(a) Customs. —A full report on the imports and exports for the year
will be found in the Kuwait Trade Report, a non-confidential publication.
The Customs duty on exports was raised by { per cent, to permit of in
creased expenditure by the State on education : the tola with another 2 per
cent added at the end of the previous year comes now to 5 per cent. is
increase, however, does not affect the imports into Kuwait by British sub-
jects, duty on which continues to be at 4 per cent, ad valorem.
Equitably, in view of this Imperial Preference has now been made
applicable to goods exported by Kuwait to Empire countries.
The Ruler has selected a site for a Customs-cum-Passport Control Post
on the North frontier.
ib) Municipality. —No remarkable changes in the township of Kuwait
or its administration have taken place during the year.
The Ruler continues, with excellent results, to forbid a local newspaper,
cinemas theatres, alcoholic drink and gramophones in coffee shops. The
heady wine of Western "civilization" is thus being taken in sips not gulps,
and only by the wealthier class, which is able to resort to Basra.
lc) Education.—The Ruler has obtained as from the 10th November
1936 the services of four young Palestinian schoolmasters to teach English
and improve the standard of education of those who will, it is hoped, be
required as Clerks, Police, Customs Officials, mechanics, eta (The sons
of the wealthier Kuwaitis have for long been going to Ahgarh University,
Schools in Singapore and Bombay and the theological colleges of Hassa,
Medina and al Mecca).