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'File 8/8 VIII Annual Administration Report for the Year 1949' [‎173r] (345/372)

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The record is made up of 1 file (184 folios). It was created in 4 Jan 1950-20 Jul 1950. 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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Financ es,
12. Since taking over an empty coffer in August,
the Shaikh has received an advance of 4 lacs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees from the Oil
Company, on account of royalties. He has also had monthly
payments from the Company for Customs Dues, wages of guards ,
etc., of between 30,000 and 40,000 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. . The Doha Customs
have yielded about 20,000 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. a month, and there have
been other miscellaneous incomings. All this has been
spent, and a further advance from the Company was sought.
When it was made clear that such an advance could only be
made if a budget was prepared and the Political Officer
supervised expenditure, the Shaikh dropped ths repiest and
borrowed from the Darwish instead.
He is thus spending at a rate of well over 20
lacs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees a year, and perhaps very much more. It is not likely
that his first year’s royalties, after deductions for ad
vances, will reach 30 lacs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees , so that his income during the
next year, on which so many greedy eyes are fixed, will not
permit as marked an increase in his rate of expenditure as
is comiuonly anticipated.
Security and Public Order .
13. No threat exists to the State of Qatar from
outside her frontiers, and public order within them is
reasonably good. There is a marked absence of violent
crime. Stealing from the Oil Company, smuggling and slave
trading are national industries in which the Ruling Family
are as deeply involved as anyone, and with which the Gov
ernment is unable or unwilling to interfere.
14. Soon after his accession, the Ruler agreed to
employ a British Police Officer and to establish a proper
nolice force. On 3rd September, Mr. R. Cochrane arrived
in Doha on loan from the Bahrain State Police, and began
this work. The Ruler’s enthusiasm for the scheme was only
luke-warm however, and continual pressure had resulted by
the end of the year, in a poorly clad, underpaid force of
30 men, not yet sufficiently trained to perform ordinary
police duties. Nevertheless in December the Ruler agreed
to buy 75 new rifles and ammunition for them, and also, in
principle, to continue to employ Mr. Cochrane as a > H 'atar
Government official.
Foreign J lelatlons-
15. The Government of Qatar took no part in the
negotiations over its southern frontier which took Place in
Jedda in October, and left the conduct of the matter entirely
in the hands of His Majesty’s Government.
16. Hopes of a "rapprochement” between Bahrain and
Qatar over the Zubarah 18th-century town located 105 km from Doha. question rose at the time of the
abdication of Shaikh Abdullah, when Shaikh All wrote in
friendly terms to Shaikh Salman, and received an equally
friendly reply, together with the loan oi 3e rifles. The
change of rulers unfortunately betokened no change^in watar s
intransigence, and the Shaikh of Bahrain* s disappointment
at the absence of response to his gesture has led >n his
part to somewhat of a decrease in cordiality and co-opera
tion.
Oil......

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Content

The file contains correspondence relating to the collation and submission of the 1949 Administration Report of the Bahrain Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , including the reports themselves.

The correspondence is between 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. and representatives of institutions active in Bahrain that provide reports and statistics for the annual report. These include: Medical Department of the Government of Bahrain; British Postal Agencies; American Mission Hospital; Eastern Bank Limited; Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO); Customs Department of the Government of Bahrain; Cable and Wireless Limited; Victoria Memorial Hospital; British Overseas Airways Corporation; Petroleum Concessions Limited; Adviser to the Government of Bahrain (Sir Charles Belgrave); British Bank of Iran and the Middle East (formerly Imperial Bank of Iran); and Gray, Mackenzie & Co Limited. The Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. (folios 106-22) and Qatar (folios 99-102) reports are submitted to the Bahrain Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. by the Political Officer at Sharjah and the British Agent at Doha, respectively. Both final reports are then submitted by 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. at Bahrain to the Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , at Bahrain.

The final report (folios 155-183), which includes the final version of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. and Qatar reports, is made up of numbered sections, as follows: 1. General; 2. Al Khalifah; 3. Education; 4. Agriculture; 5. Municipalities; 6. Water Conservation; 7. Public Works; 8. Electricity Department; 9. Automatic Telephones; 10. Pearling; 11. Bahrain Fisheries; 12. Sale of Landed Property to Foreigners; 13. Deportation of Undesirables; 14. Currency; 15. Customs; 16. Food Control; 17. Shipping; 18. Post Office; 19. Administration of Justice; 20. Police; 21. Economic; 22. Medical; 23. Bahrain Petroleum Company Limited; 24. Cable and Wireless Limited; 25. British Overseas Airways Corporation; 26. Royal Navy; 27. Unites States Navy; 28. United States Consul, Dhahran; 29. Visitors; 30. Items of Interest; 31. Weather. Some sections are further divided into parts assigned either a lower case Roman numeral (iv, for example) or a lower case letter of the alphabet (d, for example). Several of these parts also come under a sub-heading.

Folios 184-85 are internal office notes.

Extent and format
1 file (184 folios)
Arrangement

The file is arranged chronologically.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 186; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-152; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

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English in Latin script
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'File 8/8 VIII Annual Administration Report for the Year 1949' [‎173r] (345/372), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/305, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100026748344.0x000092> [accessed 25 April 2024]

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