"ملف 8/8 VI التقرير السنوي لسنة ١٩٤٧" [و‎‎١‎٤‎١] (٣٠٦/٢٨١)

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(vl) As a result of the Increase in wages made by the
Bahrain Petroleum Company to their Arab staff the Bahrain
Government increased in September the existing dearness allowance
based on salaries of all their employees. The increase's were
from 25% t 15% or 7b% to 60$ for those drawing salaries between
Rs 301 and Rs l f 000 per month| and 16$ on salaries above R* 1,000
per month. The rates for labour employed daily by the Public
Works and other Government departments were also increased] and
dearness allowances on the allowances of those on the Civil List
were raised from 30$ of the original allowances to 60$
(vll) No one can fall to be Impressed by the amount of
buildings, both for residential and business purposes, in and
around Manamah town. Apart from the work being undertaken by
British firms such as Gray Mackenzie and Petroleum Concessions
Limited, Local merchants spent their war profits on new bouses.
The Bahrain Government have built and completed a new Customs
house, Government offices and shops. All these buildings have
been concentrated around the main square of ^anemah town and Customs
area.
(viii) A committee was formed in October under the cha; raanship
of Mr. Ishaq, head of the firm of Mustafah bin Abdul Latif of
Bahrain,' to collect cash and clothing for the relief of refuges
arriving in Pakistan from India. Some 2,000 pieces of clothing
and Rs 60,000/- were collected and sent to the "Qaid-i-Azam" Fund.
*
30 miMM M J) F hJM m E*
Bahrain has jimunirr always shared the Interest in
Palestine of the Arab world but did little about it until after
the U.N.G. decision cn partition brought feelings to a head.
In November meetings were held to raise funds to assist Palestine
Arabs to retain land which would otherwise be bought up by Jewsf
Rs 66,000/- were promised but it is not known how much of this was
collected and sent to the right quarter. In the beginlng of
December, the three days set apart in the Arab countries for
demonstrations against the partition of Palestine were marked
by antl-Jewlsh riots resulting in the looting of twelve housee
and three shops, the beating up of a few elderly Jews and the
death of one Jewess. The instigators were mainly politically
young minded/men of Persian origin know to be anti-the Bahrain Government
and anxious to create trouble! the actual doers of the damage
were riff-raff| though this ofcourse is not to say that Bahraini
Arabs to a roan are not anti-Jew on the Palestine question. The
local Indian Moslem community seized the opportunity to air its
communal grievances in a threatening manner ewefe to such good
effect that after a short while practically all the Sikhs in the
Island and In Qatar fled home. The Bahrain Government arrested
seventy of the antl-Jewlsh rioters and sentenced those convicted
to various terms of imprisonment. Up to the end of the year there
fas no recrudescence of overt antl-Jewlsh activity.
si. mmm
The first week of May was marked by most extraordinary
weather even for the Persian Gulf. Wind stones came from
several points of the compass in quick succession, and it was
reported that three ships were in difficulty in the vicinity of the
island from three storms from different directions - all within
the space of a few hours. There was also rain in most unusual
quantities for Bahrain in May.
/ The temperatures