Page 365 - Records of Bahrain (3) (ii)_Neat

Reforms and unrest, 1923 781
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from fees, though of course it would have to bo paid in the firftt instanco from tho
Indian Government who must be recouped from feeB and if necessary, from tho
Bahrain Customs.
13. Tho word Customs reminds me that this is probably tho first subject
that Shaikh Hamad and tho Political Agent will havo to taolclo in good earnest,
As regards tho methods of collection I am credibly informed that for good reasons
from tho point of view of tho Director of Customs, the accounts arc kept in Siudi so
as to bo unintelligible to any Arab, Persian or Englishmen who might undertake
tho task of examination and check. I havo warned tho Director of Customs that,
in his own interests, ho had better endeavour to alter this at onco bdforc tho day of
examination comes, np it assuredly will. Infl ilial merchants seem to havo
anticipated the. proceedings of German Industrial magnates in tho payment of
revenue to their own Government. Such merchants pay when and how they
please to their great advantage whereas smaller men and petty shopkeepers aro I
forced to pay on the nail. On the outgoing side there is the same confusion and
iwant of. method. Shaikh ’Isa draws Rs. 1,000 a day of which his wife imme­
diately banks or bpries half, while Shaikh ‘Isa, though spending nothing on hjmself,
• squanders the remainder in various unproductive ways. That door has, I fancy,
been finally closed, but the Director of Muharraq, the father of the noted Jasim
AJ-Chirnwi, is a kind of general agent for all the members of the Al-IChalifa, who
not only draw handsome allowances, but at the same time have all their household
expenses paid through tho Muharraq Agent who supplies them with whatever
they require, from a box of matches, firewood and forage for camels, to motor cars
and motor boats for these sky-children of the Al-Khalifa. No doubt, the agent
! .1 feathers his own nest well in the process. In spite of the members of the Al-
Khalifa enjoying wealth such as they have never enjoyed before, they arc a'l
extravagant and in debt. It can be imagined what a heroic task is in front of
Shaikh Hamad and the Political Agent in the reform of the Customs alone, both
ingoings and outgoings, and in regard to the former, it will probably be necessary
for them tp ask for the assistance of an expert to enable them to set their house in
I order, and the Customs revenue forms the main source of income. It can probably
[ be made to yield double, and the outgoings of the Al-Khalifa might well be reduced
to a fifth of the present expenditure.
14. Another urgent reform is Tapu, a regular revenue settlement, and this 1
should probably follow Customs reform which one might hope will set free the
funds available for this.expenditure and provide yet another full source of income,
I trust I have said enough to show how busy the Political Agent will be before he
ever gets to the pearling reforms, and the absolute necessity and urgency of taking
the immediate steps indicated by me.
Bushiiijo j S. G. KNOX, Lieut.-Colonel,
The 31st May 1923. Political Resident in the Persian Oulfy