Page 203 - Records of Bahrain (6)_Neat

Budgetary affairs 191
-2-
persons to fill Government appointments.*
3. Revenue
There are three items on the revenue side of the budget
which merit attention. They arej-

(a) Customs Receipts
(b) Judicial Receipts
(c) School Fees. P
(a) The actuals for last year (1362) under thoVhcad ,rCustoms'*
fSX*'u >
amounted to Rs.13,96,500 the Advisor only budgeted to receive
6,10,000. During the present financial year the Advisor has
budgeted to rocoivo Us.8,60,000, apparently anticipating a decrease
on last year's actuals of Rs.5,36,500. As the import duty is levied
on the value of the goods imported and not on the quantity and as
no reasonable person can expect any substantial decrease in prices
during the coming twelve months, in fact everything indicates a

further rise in pricos, and as at the same time the quantity of
imports has already decreased to what must be considered as the
barest minimum it is reasonable to suppose that last year's actuals
will be maintained, Therefore to budget for a 38% fall in revenue
is unnecessarily cautious.

(b) The budget caters for a reduction in the judicial revenue
amounting to P;. 34,500 and the Advisor has stated in his explanatory
note that this reduction will bo due to a decrease in fines because
ho assumes that there will be a decrease in smuggling activities
and food control offences. I rogret I cannot find myself in
agreement with the Adviser on this point for in my opinion the
greater the scarcity of material and the highdr the prices in
surrounding countries where price control has not been as successful
as in Bahrain the more probable it is that smuggling will incroaso.
Human nature being what it is and prices being -what they are I do
i
not for one moment believe that offoncos against food control rogu-
Nations will bo any less in 1363 th^n thoy wore in 1362. At the
oamo time it is reasonable to assume that the efficiency of the

police in bringing smugglers and profiteers to trial will not
/deteriorate