Page 102 - Records of Bahrain (5) (i)_Neat

90 Records of Bahrain

.'TDEHTIAL*
Bahrain,
/QO
s*
••t - 5 rcr.. Wo3 t JJ 4th February, 1936,
M
Colonel Loch
1in continuation of my letter No.C.^ ft. JJ'
te to inform you of the following developments itf the matter of
aharnn potltlon.
On Wednesday Jan 30th, after the Joint Court, the four Manama
ro, Manooor Al Areyth, Mahaen A1 Tnjaa, Abdel Rnsool bin Rojab and
All Alowat, asked me to see them, which I did* They talked for
an hour, Manooor and Abdel Rooool were quite civil but the other
ore not. They seemed angry and disappointed with the lot tor which
had received from the Government., They doocrlbed it as " Howa "
niw that none of their requeats had been granted, they said having
a to obtain what they wanted by by lawful means they would obtain it
her means, they said that there wno great excitement among the
nn all over the country. They complained of bolng more " Muthloom 11
than they were in Shaikh Isn’o time becnuoc in those dnyo they
in dnrkncso but today they wero beginning to oec,owing to travel and
iig/nnd the bohnrnu now c<Jpared their position to that of tho pooplo
her countries such no Iraq. I ougger.ted a comparison with Ibn Saoud’s
ry but such n comparison, they said, would be a comparison to sheer
.ision. They said that Shaikh Hniued became tho ruler owing to tho
>rl of the Bahama - meaning that if they had not backed him Shaikh
la would have been Shaikh. They mentioned having people in India
,ould help them and who would write to the papers, including Tho
on their behalf. They apponred to feel moot strongly on the
ct of schools, probably because the Government conceded loss on this
. than on others. They said that the nephew of one of the petitioners
; to be headmaster of the Manama school, but they seemed almost-
.created in the question of setting up schools in the country villages
i ere entirely Shlo, They mentioned a fewnames of people v/ho were
lble to sit on the Meglls Tajnrn, three of themselves were suggested
jibout four other people. They introduced n new matter, a complaint
j eo few Bahama were employed in the Oil fields and by the Government,
jtical Agency and Mespers.
l’e seeing me they told Shaikh llnmed that they would call on him next
he gave them a vogue reply. In the afternoon lie sent for me and
based the mattor. He finally decided to give the Bahama a hearing
he following day in the court with his brothora and Shaikh Sulman and
if present. He was very worriedf he compared the behaviour of tho
rna to their behaviour before Shaikh Isa retired, lie thought of
lug a large guard at Sakhrir and arming his servants, I advised him
to do this.
Next morning Shaikh Hnrned had a long talk with his brothers,
kh Sulman and myself, at tho office, we re-read the petition and the
er°« It was decided that no further concessions should be made and
if there was any trouble, shutting of shops or other demonstrations,
lour men would be held responsible. We then v/ent into the court taking
s on the platform and the four leaders were sent for.
At first they wore norvouo. Haji Manooor did moot of the opeakinj
once again complained of the various matters contained in the
jion also about the employment of Bahama, they said that Persians,
ignore, were better treated than they were in tho matter of work.
°oiu that the Government had not replied to their requests but had
re(i them thingo which they had not aoked for. Shaikh Mohammed made
cech saying that tho Government had replied to thoir petition in ite
'yhich covered all the points, ho spoke at length, rather
lnectedly, then Shaikh Sulman made a long speech about the conduct
Bahrain Court finally asking for any specific complaints against
cntuolly the Bahama said that they had no complaints. Shaikh
sat silent only occasionally making a remark. The petitioners
hat what they wanted was not more membors on councils but