Coll 30/5(3) 'Bahrein [sic] Residency Monthly Letter - Summary of Events' [‎24r] (47/253)

3
that he had to deal with 548 movements at the Muharraq aero
drome during the month and with nearly 700 aircraft over-flying.
We are still awaiting instructions regarding the issue of
new regulations for the use of this and other airfields in
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. States.
Slavery.
No fresh cases of abduction into slavery have been re
ported during the month, but this may be due to the absence
of a representative on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. . On the other hand
three cases of the restoration of kidnapped persons have
been reported. The restoration of a Bahraini boy kidnapped
from Dubai a year ago and sold as a slave with the Emir Saud
was obtained through a Nedji merchant at Bahrain. The ac
ting Ruler of Sharjah has obtained the release of a kidnap
ped girl on payment of Ps. 16,000 and the Ruler of Abu Dhabi
has succeeded in recovering a girl who had been carried
from his territory to Qatar.
Oil .
The Bahrain Petroleum Company have established an elec
tronic survey aid station on Arab! island without obtaining
the formal permission of any authority. The Shaikh of Kuwait
had however intimated that he had no objection to the estab
lishment of the station. The Vice-President of the Arabian
American Oil Company has objected strongly and it is probable
that a protest will be received from the Saudi Arabian
Government in due course. The Bahrain Petroleum Company
have also started operations on a shoal called Bu Saafa about
50 miles north of Bahrain. They were given permission to
drill there in 1941 on the understanding that they would
withdraw if the Saudi Arabian Government objected. Such an
objection will almost certainly be received as it is under
stood that the Arabian American Oil Company had intended
to start operations on this shoal in the near future them
selves and it is likely to fall within Saudi Arabian limits
when the lateral sea-bed boundary between Bahrain and Saudi
Arabia is determined.
The Manager of Petroleum Concessions Limited has repor
ted that the Bahrain Petroleum Company are again carrying
out seismic surveys on the Qatar side of the Bahrain-Qatar
sea-bed boundary. No action has been taken on this as the
Ruler of Qatar has not protested and no instructions have
yet been received on a similar report made by Mr. Lermitte
earlier in the year.
Mr. Skinner, Vice-President of the Bahrain Petroleum
Company has taken up his residence on the island and it is
understood that he is to be in charge of the company's
public relations and that a house is to be built for him on
the site originally reserved for the residence of the com
pany’s Chief Local Representative in Manama. I have informed
the company’s Manager, Mr. Russell Brown that when he him
self ceases to perform the functions of Chief Local Repres
entative we shall almost certainly insist on the appoint
ment of a British subject to the post as prescribed in the
company’s Political Agreement.
During the month I inspected the school which the company
have started at Zellaq for the teaching of English to some
of their local employees. The course is a very short and
elementary one but it is something that the company have
begun to realise their responsibilities in this direction.
Funds have been sanctioned for the building of a large school
for local employees either at Awali or in the refinery area
at Sitrah and when this has been completed it is to be hoped
/that