Page 483 - PERSIAN 9 1941_1947

CHAPTER VI
C 0_>N_F_I-D-E_N—T__I__A_L

ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE KUWAIT
POT.TTTOaL AGENCY FOR THE YEAR 19^5.

I. THE POLITICAL AGENCY,
Personnel
hold chargf up°to-thf April| ’whence p^oceed^to
(a)
leave. , His place was taken by Major M.P. O'C Tandy of the Indian
political Service who held charge until the end of the year.

(b) Assistant Surgeon C.2. Ilynes I.M.D., held charge of che
Government dispensary and performed the duties of Quarantine _..edic
Officer throughout the year.
II. THE RULING FAMILY.
(a) For a man of sixty with a weak heart His Highness Shaikh
3ir Ahmed al Jabir As-Subah E.C.3.I., K.C.I.E., maintained remark-
ebly good health throughout the year. This vras probably due to
his habits of moderation in diet, of avoidance of exertion, of
implicit obedience to the American Mission doctors who visit him
tv/ice weekly, and of keeping a loaded revolver to hand even in the
privacy of his harem. He remained in Kuwait throughout the year
excent for the periodical pogroms of bustard which were committed as
usual during the winter months. He did however during the summer
proclaim his intention of visiting India in September for optical
and dental treatment, and this proposal may have been a ballon
d'essai to detect any tendency on the part of Government to accord
him a reception on the lines of those given to other Arab-rulers in
the United Kingdom and elsevrhere. '.•hen no trece of any such tend-
er.cy was apparent the proposal was allowed to drop, tut a similar
ballon may well be released in 1946.
His Highness celebrated the 25th anniversary (by Muslim reckon­
ing) of his accession on the 23rd February and was suitably felicit­
ated by all communities, although the Government of India took no
special steps to mark the occasion. By our calendar the 2oth
anniversary of His Highness' accession will fall on the 24th of
March, 1946.
(b) Shaikh Abdullah Salim C.I.E., continued to administer the
Revenue end Supply Departments with a degree of competence and
probity hitherto unsuspected, and to punctuate his spells of duty
vdth frequent (and apparently innocent) visits to his island haunt
of Failecha. He led the exodus to the Levant caused by the untimely
advent of Ramadhan in August and September and gave rise to not a
little scandal by passing the sacred month congenially in the red-
light quarter of Damascus.
(c) Shaikh Abdullah Mubarak C.I.S •» continued to supervise
the Department of Public Security with ruthlessness and energy in
no way diminished by his increasing weight - now in excess of 20
stone. He remains more pro-Shaikh than the Shaikh and more pro-
British than the British. The result of his efforts has been an
astounding degree of security throughout the town and state of
Kuwait. He visited the Levant between 31st July and 6th September
&nd returned from his first journey abroad convinced that there ia
no place like home.
(d) Shaikh Abdullah al Jabir remained Chief/Justice and
director of Education in which posts he discharged his duties loyally
and efficiently. He visited Bombay in the Spring, partly for
optical treatment and partly in the hope of finding an easier cure
jor his hereditary disorder than the repeated and painful Salvarsan
injections pr^pribed by the Mission doctors in Kuwait. in thin he
v;as unsuccessful.
le) Shaikh Abdulla al Ahmad