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allowing tho municipal officiala to have a hand in them.
During the. convcraationB at various times one or two of
tho five expressed their willingness to return if tho others
did so, hut at no time did all the five members agree to
return. It finally became evident to tho Government that
unless the council v/as dissolved at once and new elections
v/ere held the five members would not withdraw their
resignations. To dissolve the council would provoke strong
opposition on the part of the remaining members and in the
opinion of the Government it would be an undesirable policy
to follow. Further discussions appeared to be useless and

the present situation will, probably, continue for another
ten months until a new election is held.
In my opinion, which is shared by many people, the
Bahama were Justified in resigning in tho first place but
their subsequent attitudo wa3 wrong. Having once resigned
I believe that they felt that they could not return without
having obtained large concessions from the Government
enabling them to have, at once, equality on the Majlis.
The offers which were made by the Government would
almost certainly result in an equal number of Sunni and
Shia members being elected when a new election v/as held.
The re-arrangement of the electoral districts would ensure
that the Bahama quarters of t he town were properly
represented and provided that the electors took an Interest
I in the matter Shia Bahama would be elected to represent

them.
Among the many matters which v/ere brought up by the
Shia members during their conversations with the Govern­
ment v/ero, the so-called Orphanage which is to be run by a
committee of Sunnis, lock of co-operation by Sunnis during
the War over distributing free food to Shia villagers,

taxes paid by Shia villages in the Manama!) murkoto, small
chops in the bazuar, occupied by Shiuo, being rebuilt, and
re-let to non-Shlao usually foreigners, lack of mifluonoe
/ of