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'Government of Bahrain Administrative Report for the Years 1926-1937' [‎39v] (78/86)

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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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50
diving season to buy pearls, but as the state of the pearl market deteriorated, these buyers ceased
coming, and lately most of the Bahrain pearls have been sent to Bombay, to be sold to buyers for
the European markets.
Year.
1345
1346
1347
1348
1349
1350
1351
1352
1353
1354
1355
Number of
Boats Diving.
515
507
531
538
509
504
456
436
340
316
264
Number of
Divers.
19,250
18,500
19,650
20,150
19,300
17,600
16,650
16,000
12,700
11,550
9,800
Value of Catch.
Ks
Not recorded.
21,25,000/-
18,32,000/-
12,14,000/-
13,40,000/-
10,00,000/-
8,33,000/-
6,07,000/-
Note .—Value of catch and number of divers is only approximate.
Value of catch is calculated from actual figures of diving clerks, to which is added an average
of those boats whose catches are not recorded by diving clerks.
Number of divers is obtained from the diving-boat licences, which specify that not more
than a certain number of men may be carried in boats of the various classes. The number of divers
may possibly be less than the figures given above, but not more.
Various causes have contributed to the slump in the pearl trade, the chief reasons being the
recent years of financial depression in Europe and the success of Japanese cultured peails. Other
matters which have affected the market are changes in women's fashions, which tend to reduce
the amount of jewellery which is worn, and the popularity and cheapness of motor cars and wireless
sets. Nowadays men give women cars and wireless sets instead of pearl necklaces. There has been
a very great increase in the sale of cultured pearls during the last five years, and their price has
fallen correspondingly. When they first appeared on the market they were sold at about one-third
the price of real pearls; now they cost less than one thirtieth the price of real pearls. This, in some
ways, is an advantage. The cultured pearls are rapidly taking the place of the artificial pearls such
as are made by Giro and Tekla. Both these firms are now selling quantities of cheap cultured
necklaces, and a cultured pearl necklace can be bought at a price only a little higher than that of
a good artificial pearl necklace. The artificial pearl trade, according to a trade statement, has been
affected to the extent of six million pounds since the introduction of cultured pearls.
Diving The depression has affected the diving industry in various ways. In
Mortgages. times of prosperity merchants willingly advanced large sums of money
to nakhudas with no security except the knowledge that they had first
claim on the boats' catch, and that if the nakhuda became bankrupt the merchant could take over
the boats and divers. Now, and for some years back, owing to uncertain conditions, no merchant
will advance money for diving without taking a security for his loan, either title deeds of property
or gold ornaments. Nakhudas, as a class, rarely owned land or immovable property except the
house in which they lived, and in order to get money to equip their boats and pay the advances
to their divers many of them mortgaged their houses. After several cases in which merchants
foreclosed on mortgages and turned the nakhudas out of their houses, it was decided by the
Government that the actual living house of a nakhuda should not be liable in case of a diving debt.
The changed conditions brought to the front a few nakhudas who, because they happened to own
gardens or other immovable' property, were able to obtain loans more easily than many bigger
men whose wealth was entirely in boats and divers.
Divers' One of the chief objects of the reforms was to reduce the debts of the
Debts. divers to their nakhudas. Ten years ago, both merchants and nakhudas
were opposed to any reduction in the advances because they knew that
it would eventually result in divers being free to dive for whoever they chose; the divers themselves

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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' [‎39v] (78/86), 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_100024140826.0x00004f> [accessed 24 April 2024]

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