'File 19/165 II (C 20) Bahrain Reforms' [‎114r] (248/494)

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AJLX VO St9 ( SAU At &iots QtOlki it, WeU>
tcai iSlmikh EAstac. aliouia ooaaaiialoai,® witii tne joweuiir aoa
oa.y that ao Gcioa«I Kaox,baa t&M txiem tiaat fch«y Bight go
ii th«y wanted to, subject to v I had ao otojaot-
ioii to this oour^a, but that i oouid act agr«© to a port
ion of tha triba going and a portion Jtiying: aithar they
should all ratijtm to Budaiya within ten daya or ali laava.
11 thay -aant howavar t ihaiJih Hamad would, witn tha a^yrova
of Qovarnmant, punish theai by ocnfi^dating their proparty,
releasing tr«ir divers fron. their oontraot-* , and if neoeaa~
ary , prevent them from diving. as Shailch Hamad seemad
very nervous about acting himself 1 gave him a letter
promising him support in talcing the action mentioneu against
tha jowmir .
1 will new refer to the iueation of the actual reforaa
*nioh 1 have sisc^aed -tfith the political .igant and to some
extent with Shaikhs Hamad and ^bdulla. 1 think tha foll
owing reforms are necessary and should oe introduced with
as little delay as ^os^ible.
(1) ^aorganiaation . yj &*£ vd^tom L^ .e •
This was taken in hand limed lately altar the ue^ as it ion
of Sh&ikiiIs a aria Mr. Bower of the imperial Indian Customs
department was deputed to c-arry it sut. reform i»
almost ocmpietau now. Mr. Bower found the accounts in a
terrible state anu obvious signs that attbeszlement nes
tatcen i-lace on a xarge so.»ie. ^ howeve* tne p-r^ncipala
oi the firm of Gangaram yikamdas , who unoertooic tne manage
ment of the Custom House for slhaikh la a, had recently diea ,
it did net seem profitable to pursue the question, beyond
recovering oome tk70,000/— which tne books of tiie firm
showed to be due to the Bahrain Clovernment. Mr. power
devoted himself to introducing a proper system of account-
and a regular system of enforcing payment of dues. Under
arrangements
the old regime certain mar chants had private affltsoaaata w* tn
t:i© director sf Customs un-er Whith tr^ey were permitted to
pay t.j»ir duty once or twice a year whan it suited tnem.
On