Page 281 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Seven

Ruler was made the President of the Majlis of fifteen, whose names
were proposed by leading people of the community.
Not unexpectedly, the question of income was a central point in
the agreement which the Ruler was forced to accept in October 1930.
“The income and the expenditure of the Stale had to be spent in the
name of the Slate and had to have the approval of the Majlis. An
allowance of one-eighth of the total revenue of Dubai was to be
allocated to the Ruler.”33 During the short-lived existence of the
Majlis this clause was not fully implemented in practice, for the
Majlis had to remind Shaikh Sa'Td several times to pay up for projects
and services which the Majlis had taken in hand; this implied that he
was still physically in control of the purse-strings. Eventually this
issue irritated Shaikh SaTd to such an extent that he brought about
by force the end of this Majlis after it had decided on 3 March 1939 to
fix the Rulers income not in terms of a percentage but to allow him
only 10,000 Rupees for his personal expenses, including the tradi­
tional subsidies he had to give to beduin, retainers and others.
The Majlis began to operate in a very practical manner and tackled
many day-to-day problems such as regulating the customs service,
for which a list of employees with their salaries was drawn up. The
amount of the import duly and the way in which it should be
collected, and how the revenues would be used for the benefit of the
community were discussed and agreed upon. A Council of Merchants
was nominated to watch over these affairs and a Municipal Council
was set up to initiate and implement improvements for the port
facilities, the roads, hygiene, and security of the City State. Three
schools were opened while Mani' bin Rashid was Director of
Education.34
The correspondence and the minutes of the Majlis show that the
members did not want to confine their activities to practical reforms
but intended to bring about changes in the political and social
structures as well. At least some of the members saw that it was
welcomed by the merchant community at large if improvements were
made in commercial matters such as organising customs, porter and
storage services; but over and above that they saw that their mandate
carried a responsibility towards all groups and communities within
the State, and that to reform certain aspects of government improved
the lot of the common man and was therefore a national duty. It was
surprising that these latter ambitions were not acceptable to the
Ruler, particularly since he had always been a conciliatory man, who
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