'File 9/4 Bahrain Reforms. Introduction of Reforms in Bahrain' [‎35v] (87/224)

of affairs in Bahrain—would be removed. With all defe ence I venture to express
mv serious doubt whether the state of things has really reached such a pass tRat
our credit is suffering, and whether the elaborate, far reaching, and costly scheme
of reforms which is contemplated is so urgently called for. I have it from Colonel
Trevor's own lips when he was discussing this case with me before he left, that
whenever he visited Bahrain the number of persons who flocked to him to lay their
complaints before him on all sorts of subjects was a serious nuisance. This very
fact of itself seems to argue no small degree of liberty and ajdisregard of the Shaikh
which I cannot help feeling would not be in evidence were he the tyrant he is often ^
pictured. Abuses there are n plenty; but on the whole si ace the establishment of'
the British Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. in the island, the lot of foreigners has greatly improved,
1 now come to a more detailed comment on the proposed reforms.
Firstly, as regards taxation. The apparent injustice need not, I think,
seriously diturb us. Wh oever Shiahs are in power, Sunnis are correspondingly
oppressed'; and provided the Sunnis in Bahrain do not altogether escape the incid
ence of taxation, their privileged position does not appear open to grave objection:
it certainly seems to me t6 be far from a scandal. But if the intention is to
tax Sunnis and Shiahs equally, I very much doubt whether the influential^opi-
nion of the island will support such a proposal. Unless the well understood
privileges of the Sunnis on the Sunni side of the Gulf are to be preserved to a mate
rial extent, the position of the Sunni ruler will be weakened while he will
receive no credit from the Shiahs for benefits which will have been extorted
from him.
Secondly, the reform of the judicial system. I have no comment to make
upon what is a comparatively simple matter, but not, I venture to suggest, of such
urgency as to require a settlement under threat of compulsion.
Thirdly, the Pearling Trade Abuses.
As I suggested in my telegram of the 9th May, the reform of the Pearl Trade is a
vquestion of the greatest complexity in which the A1 Khalifa family of Bahrain arc
not alone concerned. Indeed I do not consider they can fairly be held responsible
for the abuses which prevail, or could be expected to deal with such a delicate and
difficult matter without the help of costly and elaborate British machinery. It
is not in any sense a Bahrain question, but a Gulf one ; and the only reason why
the same abuses in Kuwait and along the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. are not so much in evi
dence is that we are not in a position at these places to keep so close a watch on
the trade.
That there are cruelties and abuses in the Peafl Trade is painfully true. Per
sonally I do not believe that the wretched business is one bit worse (or better) than
it was ten years ago when I took an active interest in it. But if that fact does
not absolve us from the duty of trying to remedy a bad condition of things, it does,
T think, impose the necessity of caution in setting about a solution of so vast and
ancient a problem. The truth of the matter is that the trade is a big gamble ;
Capital has to run great risks ; it expects a correspondingly big reward during the
few intervals of prosperity ; and its profits are at the expense of an ignorant,
voiceless, and scattered population, collected from the dregs of the subjects of
distant lands. The real road to reform lies, no doubt, through the delicate and
hazardous machinery of trade unions, and co-operative societies, coupled with close
maritime supervision ; and further, to be effective, the reform must cover the whole
field of the" Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and not Bahrain only. The task is stupendous, and should,
I thmk, be taken up by itself as a separate problem, and not confused with the
question of the misrule of the Shaikh of Bahrain. It must be plainly recognised
that the only agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. capable of carrying out such reform is the British .Govern
ment, that it will be a difficult and costly business and that we should go slow and be
reasonable in our demands,
5. I have attempted to throw a new light on the advantages which it is hoped
to reap from the early introduction o| the above informs. It is now time to consider
whether sufficient weight has been given to the very obvious dangers which attend
this policy, These turn on the necessity, as to which I fear there is no question, of
using force if they are to be introduced in Shaikh Isa's lifetime, and the consequences
which the use of force may give rise to. That Shaikh Isa is a blind and wilful