'File 8/16 Bahrain Intelligence Reports' [‎186r] (371/432)

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Thc intention of this *pp*rcnt concession is to reduce to some
extent consumption of rice, the compensating increase in the
consumption of wheat or flour being met from the Government’s
reserve of Canadian wheat» Indian residents of Bahrain (ether
than Bengalis) and a number of Persians and Jews are taking
advantage of the concession.
H.H. Shaikh Salman is deeply worried about the food situ
ation, and can think and speak of little else. He sees in
imagination his subjects streaming from Bahrain to avoid starvati
in the same way as emigrants have during recent months been
streaming from the Persian side of the Gulf 5 : and he pictures
to himself the shame in which he will be held if, as an Arab
ruler, he cannot keep his people from starvation. The Shaikh
is wise enough, however, (and proud enough) to confide his
forebodings to few, and in public he pours scorn on the alarmist
talk which is becoming increasingly common in Manama and Muharraq
210. Food SuppliesSaudi Arabia .
News that an expedition is shortly to scour the
deserts of Arabia in pursuit of locusts has filtered through to
the mainland; and a visitor from Hasa, discussing the ex
pedition and its objects, remarked somewhat plaintively r *We
eat locusts, you know”.
211o Drilling on Hawar Island .
In October 1941 the Bahrain Petroleum Company were
given permission to drill holes on the main Hawar Island in
order to obtain information of the geological structure there.
The Bahrain Government were particularly pleased at the in
clusion of this item in the Company’s drilling programme both
because it afforded further evidence of the British Govern
ment’ s acceptance of their claim to sovereignty over the Hawar
Islands, and because they hoped thereby to secure a water
supply on the main island. ^At the beginning of October the
Company informed the Bahrain Government of their intention to
start drilling operations immediately after the end of Ramadhan.
Since the institution of drilling operations sc near to his
territory would undoubtedly have incensed the Shaikh of Qatar
to an inordinate degree, and would have prompted many awkward
questions at a time when awkward questions are particularly
unwelcome (the Qatar Oil Company’s drilling equipment is in
the process of being loaded for shipment to India) the Bahrain
Petroleum Company were asked to postpone indefinitely their
drilling programme on and near the Hawar Islands. The Company
readily agreed to the postponement asked for, and it only re
mains now to devise an explanation acceptable to the Shaikh of
Bahrain for the deferment of a project in which he takes sc keen
a personal interest.
212. Broadcasting .
Bahrain has been mentioned several times during the^
last fortnight in Arabic broadcasts from Berlin, Bari and Tokio.
Cne announcement was to the effect that a British Military
Dictator had been appointed in Bahrain, and that he was shortly
to be joined by an American Military Dictator. All three
stations stressed the dominance of American influence in the
island owing to America’s oil interests there.
213. ’Id.
(i) On October 11th and 12th the 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. made the
customary round of ’Id calls. When he called on H.H. the
Shaikh he was accompanied by Major Hewitt, M.C., Tcwn Major,
who was assumed by Bedouin visiters to be a highly placed
British General. It is not unlikely that Major Hewitt is the
nucleus around which the story of a. ’’British Military Dictator
(vide para 212 above) has been built up.
/ (ii)