'Government of Bahrain Annual Report for Year 1359 (February 1940 - February 1941)' [‎186v] (44/74)

m
BAHRAIN NATIONALITY
Uurin K the year 45 p- isons applied to become Bahrain subjects ami ol these 27 were e ranled
Bahrain natinnaiity. Most ot the applicants were Iranians ami Iraqis. I he latter were nmM y
lews The Iranians included several leading merchants and shopkeepers.
' The necessary oualitications include residence in Bahrain for not less than .0 years posses-
sjnn of immoyeahle property, and a clean poli.e record. Most of the persons whose apphcat.ons
were refused did not own property in Halnain.
CENSUS OF BAHRAIN
Until the year . W no census of (he population of Bahrain had been made. Various handbooks
such as Whittaker's Almanac, the Statesman's Year Book, encyclopedias etc. slated t 1a it
number of the inhabitants of Bahrain was from 130,000 to 150,000. 1 hese li^urcs urn- mm< upon
rou^h estimates which have proved to be incorrect.
For several vears the Government of Bahrain contemplated holding: a census, and in 1358
His Highness Shaikh Sir Hamad, in his public speech on the occasion of h.s access,on anniver
sary, announced that a census was goin R to he held during the comii>B i™'- '35<> copies ol
the Baluchistan Census Report for 1931 and other census reporls were obtained and Mm h
It was realised that the quantity of detailed information contained in other census reports . ould
not at present he obtained in Bahrain, where the very idea of a census was unheard o ,> c
majority of the people without causing alarm and agitation among the ignorant public. g
once held a census in Bahrain more questions could be asked and more statistics ohtaimd at
some future date when the public realised that holding a census did not involve am ol the
measures which they anticipated when the first census was held. At various times during die
months before the census was held, rumours, which were sometimes deliberately cir. ula ed,
became current that Hie object of the tlovernment was to enlist all able-bodied men foi mihtary
service abroad, to impose various forms of taxation, to set up mumcppalit.es in every town anil
village and to impose some kind of compulsory medical inspections, and at one time it was even
suggested that the Government wished to collect and destroy certain communities.
The object of the census and the methods by which it would he carried out were explained to
the public at numerous large meetings presided over by the Sum., and Shia Qadis and byte
senior shaikhs, he talks from tbo broadcasting station, and in schools; by art.cles ... the loea
newspaper ami by thousands of notices and band-bills which were distributed m every town and
village in Bahrain. His Highness himself and many of the rulmg lam.ly explained tie ma
their tenants and to resident bedouins who as a community regarded the census w.th more sus-
ptcion than the local inhabitants.
In every town and village census counters were appointed and each was accompanied by one
of the leading men of the village. In Manamah, Muharraq, and Hedd the counters were Govern-
ment and Municipal employees, each man dealing as far as possible with the dis r.e, in wl
lived. In the three towns, as well as in the villages, a leading resident from each ■
accompanied the counters and gave them valuable help. The census ol the Bahra.n I Urol u*
Company was deal, with by the eompam s staff and some of the independent
such as the American Mission, the Naval Base, etc., were counted by the head ol the com,
who filled in the forms which were provided by the Government. All the registers, lorms and
notices were printed locally and the preliminary details were filled in by the counters some
before the actual census and were checked and exammfd before the counting look P'" 1 ' .
of the work of organising the census, enlisting the counters, dtv.dmg the towns ,nto , . •
and finally checking and recording the results was done by the Land Department under the
supervision of the Superintendent, Khan Sahib Mohomed khahl Memon.
Theeensus was held on the night of a4th Dil Hijjah 1359 corresponding to «ml januai?
to,, and on that night all coftee-shops and public places of an.usen.ent rema.n«l closed I
several hours. Taxis, with the exception of a few for which special arrangement, were made
order to cover any emergency, ceased to ply and the public were asked to remain .n thc.rh^
■n,, ^...pl.. eooperated admirably; on that night the town ot Manamah appeared to be entin^
.leserted exeep, for the census counters who passed through the streets with their lanterns
books The counting look place without any dilVa ulty both in (he towns and m the villages.