Page 113 - Records of Bahrain (6)_Neat

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PJJRSI AN GULP. RES 3DENCY ,1
CQNFIPENTM \^2? APRJ948jf dated 17th April ,..1^8.i
BAHRAIN,
np.a6Z.Ci^/.ua),».
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'•tdi*— '•
Sir,
I have tho honour to submit tho following
appreciation on tho subject of British advisors for tho
threo more important Persian Gulf States.
2. The situation diffors radically In each of
tho three States concerned. Kuwait has never had a British
adviser and wc are endeavouring to persuade the Shaikh to
accept one. Bahrain has had the same. British Adviser for
twenty-two years and we are trying to bring about a change.
In Muscat tho Sultan has been asking us to find a British
advisor for him for the last seven years ond no suitable
candidate has been forthcoming.
3. Kuwait has never had a British adviser in the
past, and it is only for the last year or two that we have
been pressing the Shaikh to appoint one. Under a family
compact arrived at after some local political troubles in
1938 ond 1939 the State finances are controlled by Shaikh
Ahmad's first cousin Shaikh Abdullah Salim, who is
recognised as his probable successor and is also more or
less the leader ,01’ tho opposition. As I reported in my
dospatch No.C/^20 dated 7th July 1946 tho financial
administration of the State Is wrapped in mystery, but
until the oil field came into production in 1940 we were
content to leave things as they were as the Shaikh
maintained perfect security and there was no open adminis­
trative scandal. In that year when it became clear that
the State would soon be enjoying a very large revenue
I suggested to the Shaikh, vide my dospatch quoted above,
that the time had como to put its finances on a proper
footing ond he replied that the State would endeavour to do
this and if it failed he would ask us to find somebody to
assist him. Since then the Political Agent and I have
continued to press the Shaikh on this subject. In November
1947 he informed me that he was thinking of asking for
British advisers for finance, customs and police and said
ho would be glad to roceive lists of possible candidates
for his consideration. In my last interview with him in
March of this year he said he wanted to appoint a British
Financial Adviser and that ho was carefully preparing tho
way for tho appointment, but asked us not to hurry him.
4. I consider that tho Shaikh's request to us to
give him time Is reasonable, and thut the circumstances are
not such as to make tho immediate appointment of a financial
adviser imperative. The Shaikh after a long reign has ,
succoodcd in fully establishing his personal authority and.
maintains excellent lav/ and order. Up to date he is
carefully conserving funds derived from oil royalties and
only making occasional allocations to the different
departments of his Government. There has boon no lavish,
...
expenditure and to the bost of my knowledge no increase in
tno Civil List. T have reason to believe that tho
Tho Rt, Hon, Ernost Bovin, P.C., M.P.
&c., &c., &c. > appointment
The Foreign Office,
LONDON,