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'Government of Bahrain Administrative Report for the Years 1926-1937' [‎20r] (39/86)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (43 folios). It was created in 1937. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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23
In the last ten years several new roads have been made by the Government, linking up
existing roads, such as the road from Sehlah to a point on the Budeya road opposite the Portuguese
Fort and the road from the top of Rafaa hill to East Rafaa, which used to be inaccessible except
from down in the valley.
There is still need for several more roads, especially for one connecting Aali with Manamah,
which will take the donkey traffic which comes into Manamah from the villages around Aali. The
main road to Radm al Koweri cannot be widened any more, except at great expense, as it is
bordered on both sides by valuable date gardens, and the mixture of motor traffic and laden
donkeys, which disregard all traffic rules, is a constant source of accidents. The country people
themselves, through the Shia Wakf committee, have asked that a donkey track should be made
so that they need not use the motor road.
Buildings. Suk al In 1346 (1927-28) the ancient mosque at Suk al Khamis, which was in
Khamis Mosque. a dangerously dilapidated condition, was restored by the Government,
which at the same time straightened out the main road which previously
made a wide detour. Earlier attempts to bring the road past the mosque had been opposed by
the Shia villagers, but because they were pleased at the Government's action in repairing the
mosque, no objections were made about the road.
This mosque was described by Von Ernst Diez, who visited it in 1914, as being a mosque of
the year 740 H. (1339-40). The ornamentation of the wooden pillars and cross beams are of
particular importance and interest. Over twenty years ago all the wood in the mosque disappeared.
During the last few months I have found, and been able to recover from a neighbouring village,
several of the beams and large pieces of wood containing the carvings which were described and
illustrated by Diez and which he ascribed to the ninth or tenth century.
Idari Water Channel During this and the following year the Government, at the request of
and Mosque. the landowners whose property is irrigated from Idari spring, built a
cement water channel from the main spring to the high road, a distance
of about 1,200 yards. The cost of the work, Rs 21,000/-, was paid by the owners of the gardens.
At the same time the Government built a small mosque, on the site of an older one, on the bank
of the pool. During the last year, further improvements have been made at Idari, and a quantity
of flowering trees and bushes have been planted there. The pool during the summer is visited by
thousands of people, who bathe there.
Manamah School The school was begun in 1347 (1928-29) and completed in the following
and Workshop. year. The cost of the Manamah School, and a small school which was built
at the same time at Suk al Khamis, was Rs 39,000/-. There are ten class
rooms in Manamah, capable of accommodating about three hundred boys, and a large hall which
has on one occasion held six hundred people. The building is of stone and cement and is on one
floor.
During the present year a workshop has been built close to the school on the opposite side
of the road. This became necessary as the carpentry and engineering classes made so much noise
when working in the main building that other classes were disturbed.
Barracks, In 1353 (1934-35) a new barrack room was built in the Fort in place of
Police Station. some of the old rooms, which became uninhabitable. The original
building was made of stones fastened together with mud, plaster, and
covered with a thin coating of lime plaster. Every year for the last ten years portions of the main
wall of the Fort have fallen down, and most of the old quarters inside the Fort are in a dangerous
condition.
A second barrack room was built in 1936, and also a new armoury and three motor garages,
and in 1937 the north-west tower, which had fallen in, was rebuilt and part of the walls were
faced with cement and thoroughly repaired.
The larger of the two barrack rooms, which is 114 feet long and 22 feet wide, with three
doors and fifteen windows, and also clere windows, accommodates forty men and cost Rs 7,300/-.

About this item

Content

This volume is an administration report covering the years 1926 to 1937 (though in some subjects the report goes further back than 1926) and deals mainly with the activities of the Bahrain Government. It includes text, photographic images, graphs and tables. The report was based on annual reports of the financial and government departments which are made every year. A contents page can be found on folio 3, followed by a General Review by Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, dated December 1937 (folio 4).

The contents are divided into the following sections and sub-sections:

  • Finance (folio 5): Revenue;
  • The State Police and Public Security (folios 5v-10v): The Levy Corps, Political Disturbances, Attempt to assassinate the Shaikh, Indian Levy Corps, Crime and Prostitution, Drugs and Liquor, The State Jail, The Present Police Force, Administration and Routine, Changing Nature of Duties, Recent Innovations, Police Band, Camel Section, Shooting, Uniforms, Police Training in India, and The Naturs;
  • Customs Department and Revenue (folios 10v-13v): Organisation and Establishment, Revenue (Customs Duty, Import Yard charges, Khanchieh, Porterage, Pier Fees, Landing Company, Mainland Cargo, Optional Cargo System, Transhipment Cargo), Transit Cargo, Export Dues, Boat-Building, Customs Improvements, Steamship Lines, and Future Improvements;
  • Judicial (folios 13v-19v): Institution of Courts, The Bahrain Court (Criminal Cases, Civil Cases, Diving Cases, Land Cases, Fish-Trap Cases), The Bahrain Small Court, Shera [Sharia] Court (Sunni and Shia), The Mejlis Tajara [Majlis Tijārah] and Diving Court, Small Mixed Court, Laws and Codes, Police Regulations, and Judicial Legislation (Diving Regulations, Wakils Elected representative or attorney, acting in legal matters such as contracting marriage, inheritance, or business; a high-ranking legal official; could also refer to a custodian or administrator. , Mortgages, Appeals, Statute of Limitations, Liability of Government Servants);
  • Public Works (folios 19v-23v): Roads, Buildings (Suk al-Khamis [Sūq al-Khamīs] Mosque, Idari Water Channel and Mosque, Manamah School and Workshop, Barracks, Police Station, New Customs House, Shops, Palace Wall, Law Courts, Bazaar Buildings, Jufair Naval Base, and Manamah-Muharraq Road;
  • Land Registration (folios 23v-24v): Survey, Reports on Land Cases, Registration of Sales and Titles, Mortgages, Government Title Deeds, Fish-Traps, and Leases and Government Forms;
  • Education (folios 24v-27v): Formation of an Education Committee, Muharraq School Built, Jaffarieh [al-Ja‘farīyah] School, Opening of a Girls' School, Appointment of a School Inspector, Strike of Students and Masters, Reforms in the Schools, Disappearance of School Committees, Amalgamation of Manamah Boys' Schools, Technical Education, Bahrain Boys at Beyrout University [American University of Beirut], Education of the Ruling Family, and Future Development of Education;
  • Electric Department (folios 27v-29r): Original Installation, Muharraq Extension, Share of Municipalities, Progress, State Engineer, Progress, First Profitable Year, Future Prospects, Telephone System, and Summary of Seven Years' Working;
  • Agriculture (folios 29r-31v): Land Tenure, Date Cultivation, Lucerne, Cereals, Cotton, Tobacco, Fruit Trees, and Vegetables.
  • Wakf [Waqf] Administration (ff. 31v-35r): Nature of Wakfs, Shaikh Khalaf, Syed Adnan's Administration, Appointment of a Council, Previous attempts to organise Wakf Department, Progress of Administration and Elections, Results, Future Development, and Sunni Wakf Administration;
  • Passport Department (folio 35r);
  • Municipalities (folios 35r-38r): Constitution and History (Manamah and Muharraq), Municipal Finance, Municipal Taxation, Municipal Achievement, Roads, Manamah (Conservancy, Sanitation, Water Supply, Malaria, Fire Precautions, Markets and Food Regulations, Public Health Measures, Gardens, Cemeteries), and Muharraq Municipality;
  • The Pearl-Diving Industry (folios 38r-40v): General, The Diving System, The Reforms, Demonstrations by Divers, The Slump, Diving Mortgages, Divers' Debts, Transfer of Divers, The Catch, and Recent Changes;
  • Social and Political Developments (folios 41r-42v): Arabs and Baharna, The Baharna, The Townsfolk, Houses, Games, Class Changes, The Ruling Family, and The Women.

Photographic images appear on eleven folios, and they are labelled as follows:

  • Folio 7: 'Sooq Al Khamis Mosque' and 'A Village Dispensary';
  • Folio 11: 'An Artesian Well (Showing head of water)' and 'A Natural Spring (Adari [‘Adhārī])';
  • Folio 14: 'Meat Market', 'Slaughter House', and 'Metal Vegetable Market (Under Construction)';
  • Folio 15: 'Modern Village in Manamah', 'A Street in Manamah', and 'Municipal Garden, Manamah';
  • Folio 16: 'A Small Pearling Dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. ';
  • Folio 21: 'New Customs House and Round-about', 'Government Shops', and 'Women's Dispensary';
  • Folio 22: 'The Palace Manamah', 'Manamah Muharraq Sea Road', and 'The Road (From the Sea)';
  • Folio 25: 'Manamah Boys' School', 'School Workshops', and 'A Village School';
  • Folio 30: 'A road in Manamah' and 'Street in Muharraq';
  • Folio 32: 'A Policeman' and 'Police on Parade';
  • Folio 33: 'Buildings Constructed by Bahrain Government at Naval Base, Jufair [al-Jufayr]', 'Clerk in Charge's House', 'Canteen', and 'Officer's Building'.

Folio 17 is a graph entitled 'A decade of Customs Progress'. A note on the title page reads 'Property of H.B.M. Embassy Bahrain' (folio 2r) and the back cover includes a label that reads: 'Printed at the Dolphin Press, Brighton, England' (folio 43v).

Extent and format
1 volume (43 folios)
Arrangement

This file contains a page of contents (folio 3) which references pages of the report.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: Folios 1-43.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'Government of Bahrain Administrative Report for the Years 1926-1937' [‎20r] (39/86), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/750/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100024140826.0x000028> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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