Page 118 - Records of Bahrain (6)_Neat

I
106 Records of Bahrain
£
BRITISH RESIDENCY,
wv.iFIDKHTIAL. BAHRAIN.
1011l|/3 i 20til April, 1951.
jEftiofl
No. 51.
Sir,
!
Mr. Belgrave, the Advioer to the Ruler of Bahrain, and
his wife, Mrs. Belgrave, on the 31 at March last completed 25
years ocrvico in Balu'ain, They had celebrated their oilver
—y wedding a few weeks previously. I enclose herewith a copy of
an article about them which hao appeared in tlie paper pub­
lished by the Balu'ain Petroleum Company. The article cives
an idea of tho immense debt owed by Bahrain to both the Bel-
graves. Visitors are unamimoua in rating its administration
as the best in the Middle East, and although Ilia Majesty's
Government and the old British Government of India are entitled

to some credit for tills, tho main achievement is Mr. Belgrave's.
He came here in 1926 some years after Shaikh Isa had been
deposed and his son Hamad appointed Regent. Major, now Sir
Clive, Daly, was Political Agent at the time and was the
virtual ruler of the island. He ruled;with a rod of iron
and laid tho foundations on which Mr. Belgravo has built.
When he departed his mantle fell on Mr. Belgrave who for so
long as Hamad was Regent or Ruler, that is, up till his death
in 19h2, conducted the administration with little or no
interference from him. Shaikh Salman, since his uccession
has taken a much more active part in the Government of the
State and Mr. Belgrave has performed the functions of a chief
Ministor rather than a ruler. Throughout the long tenure of

his office he has done hi3 best to l:oop ovory branch of the
administration in his own hands. He "bears like the Turk,
no brother near his throne", and has never been willing to
tolerate a deputy or an assistant. Ho' is still Commandant
, '
r
of the State Police and doeply rosento' any suggestion that
A
IIis Majeoty'0 Principal Secretary of State : :
for Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Office,
London, 0. \Y. 1.