'File 8/16 Bahrain Intelligence Summary' [‎27r] (53/108)

SECRET- .
No. 13 of 1945 >
102. SHIPPING.
C
Intelligence Summary of the
Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , Bahrain, for
the period 1st to 15th July, 1945 *
Fourteen ships (7 British and 7 American) called at
Bahrain during the period under report. The imports were
2,409-^ tons general cargo for Bahrain and 158 tons for
transhipment to the mainland, while the exports consisted
of 1,23,500 tons petroleum products. Two ships were still
in port at the end of the period.
103. MOVEMENTS OF OFFICIALS.
(i) On the 10th July Lieut-General Sir Arthur Smith,
K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., M.C., General Officer Commanding-in-
Chief, Paiforce, accompanied by Brigadier J.W. Hinchgliffe,
D.S.O., Group Captain Brake, Major R. Mytton, and Captain
D. Myers, arrived by air from Shaiba.
On the 11th July, accompanied by Lieut-Col.
G.R. Hesketh, the Station Commander, the party left by air
for Sharjah.
On the 12th July the Station Commander returned
to Bahrain and the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief and
his party left by air for Masira.
They returned to Bahrain on the 13th and left the
next day for Basra.
(ii) On the 15th July, the Political A'gent left by
air for Sharjah.
104. THEFT AT BAHRAIN PETROLEUM COMPANY STORE.
This was reported at paragraph 96 of these summaries.
The trial in the Sessions Court of Edward Minnick (American)
and Arthur Koch (Canadian) concluded on the 4th of July.
Koch was acquitted and Minnick sentenced to one year's simple
imprisonment under Section 381, Indian Penal Code. It is
understood that he intends to appeal against his conviction.
The general local opinion seems to be that he deserved this
sentence and, indeed, that it was lenient.
105. RICE IMPORTS.
A certain amount of rice has recently been imported
into Bahrain privately from Persia. Efforts by the local
Government to control its.sale resulted in the immediate
stoppage of the imports and their diversion to Saudi Arabia
where, presumably, the prices are not controlled.
106. QATAR .
The agreement signed by the Shaikhs of Bahrain and
Qatar in June, 1944, has not, unfortunately, terminated
the illfeeling between the two States and this has easily
found expression in conflicting interpretations - a very
easy matter for both parties since it would not have been
signed had it been first framed in any but the vaguest
terms. These merely stated that conditions should revert
to those persisting before the split occurred between the
two States in 1936. The Shaikh of Bahrain has taken this
to mean that the shaikh of Qatar's previous prohibition of
the entrance of Bahrainis to the west coast of Qatar has
been rescinded and tested his view by sending some of his
subjects there to collect lime. They were promptly expelled
having been ill-treated and this, with similar instances,
has formed the subject of unfructuous correspondence between
/ the.....