'File 19/126 II (C 29) Bahrain Customs' [‎37r] (87/567)

formal oomplaint against what he described as an in
justice to his subjects resident in Hassa and Bahrain,
and had appealed to you to adjudicate in the matter,
and that after due consideration your Judgement was
that Shaikh Isa was in the wrong, and that he should
again reduce the customs charges to 2-| % on all goods
except piece goods, which latter could continue to pay
at the rate of 15/- per single bale ( according to Sh:
Isa he reduced this to R® 4/- in 19 13).
2. As a sort of ,, backhand ,, concession,however, I
would suggest that you add the following in your letter
in order to strengthen the hands of the local Customs
Authorities !-
(a) That all goods for the mainland landed
at Bahrain must be addressed to the port of
destination via Bahrain.
(b) That no goods so consigned will be allow
ed to be diverted' into Bahrain without the Ruler
or 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. 's sanction.
(c) That tranship goods will only be allowed
to remain in the Customs House for 20 days.After
that they must be re-shipped to destination.
Failure to remove within the time limit to entail
payment of full duty of 5$.
3. A direct order from you on something of the above
lines is the only way, I think, to get Shaikh Isa to move
in the matter. He, now-a-days, unfortunately, is entire
ly in the hands of his third son. Shaikh Abdullah, backed
by the latter^ evil genius Jassim A1 Chirawi ( he accom
panied Shaikh Abdullah to England) Both the above,ever
since their return, seem to have changed markedly for the
worse - official records show that before going Home,
Shaikh Abdullah was showing great promise. The contrary
is, I fear, the case now. The whole policy of Abdullah
and Jassim, now-a-days, is directed towards freeing