'File 18/55 I (C 101) Bahrain Order in Council' [‎175r] (363/477)

iK'
/
i
j
r#/ ■ '7'f '• Tho Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. ,
Buahlre, 20th May 1915.
V
}f
M
Your demi-official letter of 10th May 1915 about
the Bahrain Order in Coincil.
Re Majlis. The remark in my letter that "Ttie Majlis 1 b
not exactly the same as a Council or *Iders" was^ I ar afraid,
loosely v/orded• x should .ave sal 1 not **exactly similar • I
am aware that the magistrate need not, accept tho findlT fr of* a
Majlis - in fact I have often declined to do so myself in Zhoh
and Loralai # - My point is that, whereas in the case of a Coun
cil of Elders the only authority who nominates the members of
the Council, accepts, or declines to accept, or revises its
findings is the i -lagistrate or Political Officer, in the case
of the -ajlis the Shaikh is in a similar position. This to
my mind is rather a fundamental difference between the two
bodies though they both are advisory.
However it is beside the point, as the I'ajlis have been
consistently referred to as a Civil Court since the very first
draft order in 1910, and no one has ever taken exception to
it; I do not think {nor does Sir Percy) that we can go up
for an alteration now between the time of the official public
ation of the Order in the Gazette and its introduction.
What I should do myself would be to treat the ''a J lis
exactly as it has been treated hitherto and suggest an alter
ation In the definition and the offending section either when
the question comes up in a case, or in a year or two when we
are suggesting amendments in the light ot experience#
2. sir Percy certainly ^ave me to understand that t va
in tended to Introduce the Order as gradually as poss^bl®.
The word 'gradually* is mentioned in the office notes though
not In Sir Percy's, as he writes "We have discussed th»s
mattar" etc. In his letter to Foreign Sir Percy says "It
(Order) might be brought Into operation as unobtrusively
Major T.H.Keyes, I.A.,
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. ,
Bahrain.
— --ttVfru
1
J
'hi