"ملف ١٩/٢١٢ I (ج ٤١ (التجارة العابرة في البحرين" [و‎‎٧‎٣] (٥٧٦/١٧٠)

-lb-
3.
24tii May 1920 si^ested that the rate of HE duty should "be
2 or 2t/o and that nothing should he charged on direct tran
shipment. This is the first mention that I can trace of a
2$duty.
6. The matter now moved rapidly. The Government of India
apparently agreed to a 2^ EE Export duty and to free tran
shipment at sea,and Shaikh Isa was instructed accordingly,
Bin Saud and the Ruler of Qatar "being simultaneously informed
of the new concession. The reason given to Shaikh Isa by
the Resident was that his former practice was T not in
accordance with existing international law T . In his covering
letter,the Political Agent informed Shaikh Isa inter alia
*• j that T 'In other words,Your Excellency may possibly shortly
be invited to raise the Bahrain Customs tariff to the extent
of that fixed by the Persian Government. Should this take
place lour Excellency may expect to receive a greatly
increased revenue from your customs. Such an increase will
no doubt be half as much again or possibly double your
existing revenues",
p v. Shaikh Isa received the news badly and immediately
asked to be allowed to return to the old rate he had
previously refused to concede. Shaikh Isa apparently also
asked that the free transhipment at sea should not be forced
on him. The Political igent discussed these points in his
% forwarding letter No:228 of the 3rd August 1920. The
Resident informed Shaikh Isa that the orders of Government
must be obeyed,and sent three letters to him with his letter
No:253-S of 28th August 1920 to the Political Agent. The
, ^ ^ first told him that he must carry out the orders of Govern
ment without demur,and the third warned him against mischief
maters. The second is of the greatest importance for I nov/
find in its penultimate paragraph that he informs Sha&k Isa
that the free transhipment at sea is only intended to apply
f o to goods that come by steamer. If Shaikh Isa had not been
in his dotage he WDuld have produced this letter long ago
and the difficulty of country craft discharging cargo direct