Page 578 - Records of Bahrain (6)_Neat

566 Records of Bahrain

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reading* A State with nearly a million pounds in the
Bank is unable to keep toaohore und nurooo owing to in­
adequate oalarieo and io oontent to aooept scholarships
from a. foreign power I (Pages 86 and of the report J •
Perhaps, after consultation with BelgraYe and, on the
Medical aide, .with Drs* Snow and Doeg you will be able
to obtain deoiolono to remedy thia otate of affaire and
to foraulato propooalo for auoh future improYemente ao
are practicable and shown by the reporto to bo necessary*
5. Belgrave, I suppose, Justifieo his oonoerYatlYe
finance in the terma of the phrase in hie Oeneral Review
(page 4 of the report) —"The fortunate financial position
of the State waB to a great extent due to war conditions"
(the underlining is mine)* We are presumably meant to
infer that the larger Customs receipts ure a windfall of
the war besides which the Oil Royalty is hardly worth
consid ering* When the latter forms half of the whole
revenue (page 6) the inference is, of course, baseless*
The Oovemment of India letter 1 have quoted,
though drafted in a somewhat doctrinaire spirit, does in
paragraph 6 give valuable advice on the approach to the
financial aspect of the easel and I Bhould be glad if you
oould take up with Belgrave the question of putting it
into effect* This brings me to discuss staff and new
schemes but it is obvious that until a financial policy
is formulated, proposals must bo, in some oases, tentative*
6* In the first place is the 8tate oapablo even of
administering its finance ? I see that Pelly mentioned
the matter of aooounte to Belgrave and was told that all
was well (the enclosure to his demi-official letter No*
P*0 dated 19th August 1946 to you). I shall be glad to
know whethor you agree with Belgrave or whether you think
that an Aooounte Offloer for the Otate is necessary• If
the need is there I do not think it can be met by audit­
ing by an outside firm as, I understand, is occasionally
undertaken* And an outside firm cannot formulate and
supervise the exeoution of a financial policy*
Ho further examination of Bahrain finances is,
however, needed to enable us to decide that an efficient
eleotrlo and pumped water supply, and better roads and
Btreets are items on which expenditure is now Justified*
The present Bahrain engineering staff is inadequate for
the exeoution and maintenance of these projects and I
suggest that what is required is an engineer, of the olaso
and statue of a Superintending Engineer in India, with
full oontrol of all publio works and buildings, and
adequate staff, some of whom would probably be European,
and powers* I should be glad of your views* The book
value of the existing buildings would be relevant*

/ I should