'Administration Report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency for the Years 1911-1914' [‎125v] (255/488)

112
peesian gxji/f administration report
chapter xi.
administration report eor the political agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
KUWAIT, FOR THE YEAR 1912.
The jear under review has been a remarkably prosperous one for Kuwait
The chief reasons for this fortunate
Gencra1 ' state are the comparative peace of tlie
desert routes which permitted the free transit of caravans, the good condi
tion of the cattle in the desert, which allowed the realization of
prices for them as well as for other desert produce, and the favourable pearl
season which, following as,it did on two previous good years, has made money
plentiful and cheap in the town and so enriched the sea-faring folk that their
extravagance now bids fair to make Kuwait a rival to Bahrain in its, notoriety
for the high cost of wages and living.
Although the growth in trade, the rise in the prices of practically all com
modities, and the exceedingly high wages now demanded by all crafts brings
about temporarily an atmosphere of great affluence, a reaction seems bound to
follow on the ' slightest depression in trade or the pearl-market for the poorer
classes are thriftless to a degree; indeed a man who can easily earn as much as
Rs. 5 a day is, as often as not, heavily in debt. No one seems to contemplate
the possibility of a lean year, nor to consider the desirability of making some
provision and when it does come, I fear the distress in the town will be severe.
The highest maximum temperature recorded during the year was 115° for
the 10th June and, excepting a few days
Climate and Rainfall. m the beginning of that ^ month, whicli
were rather trying owing to the prevalence of southerly winds, the sum
mer on the whole was not very severe, though not as mild as that of
the previous year. The winter also was much milder, the minimum
recorded temperature being 36° as compared with 2^ 7° of the previous
year. The total rainfall registered at the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. Observatory amoiuted to
only 2 inches 66i cents, which is less than half the average (the average of the
past three years is inches 39 cents). The rainfall sufficed at the beginning of
the year to provide fair grazing and fodder, but the absence of rain in November
and December is causing anxiety ; and there will be scarcity and impoverisfl-
ment of the livestock in the desert in the ensuing year, unless copious rain falls
early in January 1913.
An extract prepared from the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. daily meteorological reports is
attached as Appendix I.
On lith January a sensation was caused by the arrest of ^ one
Local affairs. bil1 Ghanim and some of Ws fo Ug
on a charge of conspiracy against bna
Mubarak's life. The man was one of the Shaikh's trusted leaders mp
expedition against Shaikh Sa'adun of the Muntafick in 1910, and it see^
unlikely that he would attach himself to any such forlon hope as a cob
spiracy against the Shaikh, Local opinion still adheres to this view, t ou 3
the Shaikh asserts he found incontrovertible evidence among the man 's paFj
Saghar was kept in chains until the 19th Mav when it transpired that the sign
ot both of his eyes had been brutally destroyed; this news, though kept secret®
some time.was received with execration by any who dared express an 0 P m ',
On 16th December he was released on condition that he should teve K ^ ,
immediately and not settle at either Basrah, Zobair, Bahrain or on theSnart^
ra , nit eventually the Shaikh waived these conditions and SaghM
ccupymg his old house, a broken man, morally and phvsically. . _
^ • Jke town continues to be thoroughly well governed, and there is no
exce P^ on 0 f one incident which took place in
t1i P 4!-tv 0nCe ' ^ s ® !ious assault with robbery was committed by
m r n S men ' urlns the 11 of the 16th October, on a Bahrain ?