Page 661 - PERSIAN 9 1941_1947

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(vi) 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#, 15# or 7-J# to 50# for those drawing salaries* between
Es 301 and Es 1,000 per month; and 15# on salaries above Es 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 50#

(vii) lio one can fail to be impressed by the amount of
buildings, both for residential and business purposes, in and
around Manam&h 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 ar.d shops, All these buildings have
been concentrated around the main square of ^anarnah town end Customs
area.

(viii) A committee was formed in October under the chairmanship
of Mr. Ishaq, head of the firm of I'ustafah bin Abdul Latif of
Bahrain, to collect cash ar.d clothing for the relief of refuges
arriving in Pakistan from India. Sore 2,000 pieces of clothing
and Es 50,000/- we re collected and sent to the "Qaid-i-Azasi'1 Fund.

30 BAHRAIN A:~) PALEST IKS.
Eahrain has ehere4 always shared the interest in
Palestine of the Arab world but did little about it until after
Q
the U t b • decision on 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 Jews;
Es 66,000/- were promisee but it is net knovm how much of this was
collected and sent to the right quarter. In the beginir.g of
December, the three days set apart in the Arab countries for
demonstrations against the partition of Palestine were marked
by anti-Jewish riots resulting in the looting of twelve houses
and three shops, the beating up of a few elderly Jews and the
death of one Jewess. The instigators were mainly politically
young minded/raen 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 man 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 sueh 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 anti-Jewish rioters and sentenced those convicted
to various terms of imprisonment. Up to the end of the year there
was no recrudescence of overt anti-Jewish activity.
31. WEATHER
The first week of May was marked by most extraordinary
weather even for the Persian Gulf. Wind storms 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 Kay.

Z The temperatures