Page 215 - Records of Bahrain (5) (i)_Neat

Demands for reform, 1935, 1938-1939 203
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npproval of the British Government. I sec no cause for
changing the present form of Government which is acceptable
to the Ruling Family and to all except a few of the irres­
ponsible and of the undesirable elements of the people. If
the British Government force the Shaikh to accept a Council
the public would regard it as a sign that the Administration
which had been approved by the British Government for so
many years had suddenly become a failure. It has been
incessantly stated that the British Government do not wish
to interfere in the intornal administration of this country.

Has any event occurred in Bahrain to justify the British
Government suggesting a completely different form of Govern­
ment ?"
3. You will see that many of Belgrave1 s arguments are
based on his opening sentence which is of paramount importance.
4. Your paragraph 2. The matter of the Advisory Committee

on Education awaits the communication of official advice to
His Highness, vide the first sentence of paragraph 7 of my
letter No.^C/704'dated the 19th November.
5. In regard to the projected visit of an Educational
Adviser, both Belgrave and I think that there would be little
danger of hostile press propaganda resulting from a visit by
an official from the Iraq Education Department. There have

been no manifestations of official Iraqi hostility towards
Bahrain, and on the contrary the Iraq Government have been
quite helpful in various ways (e.g. finding a Shia Qadhi,
allowing Bahrain girls to attond Iraqi medical schools, etce­
tera). Moreover Shaikh Abdullah bin 'Isa, the Head of the
Education Department in Bahrain, is on excellent terms with
many important people in Iraq, and I understand, though I

have not seen it, that there was recently a favourable
article/-