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'Government of Bahrain Administrative Report for the Years 1926-1937' [24r] (47/86)
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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
27
need not be registered, but the existence of a Government title deed ensures that the property
is free from claims. Before this rule was made, cases frequently occured in the courts in which
the same property was mortgaged to two different people.
Government Government title deeds are hand-written documents in Arabic, describing
Title Deeds. the property with all measurements, boundaries, water rights, and
particulars, and on the reverse of each title deed there is a plan of the
property with measurements shown in feet and inches. The documents are signed on both sides
by the Ruler, the Adviser, and the Superintendent of the Land Department. A person wishing
to register his property makes a written application to the Land Registration Department. The
property is surveyed by the Land Department surveyors in the presence of the owner or his agent,
or, in the case of a sale, in the presence of both parties; if necessary, boundary pillars are erected.
A proclamation is then issued, calling on all persons having any claim on the property to submit
claims in writing within fifteen to thirty days in the case of a sale, and ninety days in the case of
registration of ownership. Claims are forwarded to the Bahrain Court by the Land Department
and are decided by the court, which also examines all applications for titles before the final documents
are issued. The procedure is somewhat slow, but it is effective, and since it has been in force the
number of disputes about land, boundaries, water rights, and fish-traps is gradually declining.
Fees are charged for registration of sales according to a sliding scale in the case of sales, depending
upon the sale price, and at a fixed rate in the case of registration of ownership. The fees in the
latter case are low and do not cover in some cases the cost of the work, but it is to the advantage
of the public and the Government that as much property as possible should be registered and, to
encourage registration, fees are small. Between 400 and 500 title deeds have been issued by the
department every year during the last ten years, and each year there has been a gradual but steady
ncrease in applications for registration of ownership.
Fish-Traps. In 1353 (1934) all fish-traps round the coast of Bahrain and the various
islands were registered, and rules were laid down with the object of
preventing people from erecting and then claiming ownership to fish-traps on Government
property. It was enacted that the owners of fish-traps had no rights over the boundaries mentioned
in their title deeds, except as far as protection from other persons who might wish to erect fish-traps
within the area described. In many cases great pieces of the sea were described in old documents
as being the boundaries of a certain fish-trap, and if full ownership to these areas was admitted,
valuable land along the foreshore would be lost to the Government if the owners chose to reclaim
it. The department dealt with the question of a batch of very valuable traps close to the Bahrain
Petroleum Company's pier at Sitrah, and was mainly responsible for arranging a settlement between
the Bahrain Petroleum Company and the owners of the traps.
Land Leases and In addition to survey and registration work, the Land Department is
Government Forms, responsible for leasing Government land, mostly in the neighbourhood
of Manamah, to persons who live upon it in Barastis. The rents are very
low, but the existence of a regular agreement between the Government and the occupier of the
ground ensures that the Government retains its ownership of the land. In Bahrain, ten years'
undisputed and uninterrupted occupation is sufficient to establish the ownership of the ground.
Printed Government forms, the use of which is compulsory in the case of senads, powers of
attorney, and diving 'barwas,' etc., are sold by the Land Department, and every year over 15,000
of these forms are purchased by the public.
The revenue collected by the Land Department does not cover the cost of the department,
but the value of land registration to the Government and to the public is very great. The continued
success of the registration work can only be ensured as long as the principle that Government
title deeds, when once issued, cannot be contested is maintained. Frequent attempts have been
made, usually by influential personages, to set aside title deeds, but so far without success. If one
case of this kind should meet with success, the whole system would be seriously aifected.
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 View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/1/750/1
- Title
- 'Government of Bahrain Administrative Report for the Years 1926-1937'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:42v, back-i, back
- Author
- Belgrave, Sir Charles Dalrymple
- Usage terms
- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact copyright@bl.uk with any information you have regarding this item.