'File 8/16 Bahrain Intelligence Summaries' [‎24r] (47/330)

(iii) T^- ^nd P- rtl^ in order zo conserve suppli«J6 t
but chiefly to prevent the creation of a bl-ck market in these
convuodities, te,-. and coffee will in future be r- tioned. The
ration sc<ile has been fixed at 2 oz» of tea and 4 oz. of coffee
per head per month t
72* Currency
♦
The price of sovereigns rose fre/n Fa 57/8/- in th-j middle
of March to : s 65/- oh March 27th. The or ice ft the ^nd of the
month vvf s ?a 60/- •
73* Bahrain Government Cfficials
(i) Mr. de Grenier, Director of Customs, has taken leave
preparatory to retirement* Only those mhosu duties brou-ht
them into direct contact with the Bhrain Customs Department
\<ere to form <• true estimate of the value of Mr. de
Grenier's services to the local administration#
(ii) Mr. hakelin. Director of Education, left for Kuwait on
March 20th with the; intention of inspecting schools there. Hw
returned before the end of the month.
74# Bahrain Government Hospital
During February and March British Service personnel to the
number of 53 were treated as in-patients in the Bahrain Govern
ment Hospital. Amoebic dysentery was the most common complaint.
75. Opinion about the War
Mr. Churchill's speech, with its salutary reminder that
the end of the war was not y-.-t in sight, created a deep impres
sion among all communities in Bahrain. Deveral employees of
the Bn hr-' in P- tr oleum Company, who Fr d r of r in ad from V-kihg
leave in the* hope that the war would end by the autumn and that
they could then take leave at home, have- changed their minds
and have asked to take leave now in South Africa. His Highness
the Shaikh took pr.rticdiar note of the indie tion given by Mr#
Churchill that the war in Europe might still last for two ye rs,
and th< t only fteh vidtory had b»n : n achieved in the Mest wbuld
the full strength of the Allied forc-s be concentrated against
Japan. His Highness, for whose family and subjects rice is .an
indispens bio article of diet, w<s naturally disappointed at a
war programme v.'hich postponed for so long a oeriod recovery of
the rice-producing rea of Burma.
76. Conflagration at IMnama
On th ; night of 31st M ;, rch a lighter cwryine about a
thouy' nd tons of Aviation Patrol from K.T. ’'Tinimbo'* to the siiore
caught fire. The lighter and its cargo were destroyed but there
was no loss of life or other damage.
77. California Ar bian EVndnrd Oil Company
Reference p< r.-graph 52 of Intelligence Summary Mo. 4 of
1443 in which it was reported that nineteen Indian employees
of the Company had resigned in protest against the rejection
of •• petition which they had ore seated, and that the Company
had accepted on the spot the resignations of the t-o ringleaders
and hd despatched them to Bahrain to ^wnit passages to India.
The IP naigement accepted also the resignations of whe
remaining seventeen employees, but m nie them remain at Dhah^an
and continue working until the expiry of the oeriod of one month
required /-