Page 349 - Records of Bahrain (7) (i)_Neat

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Study of administrative machinery, 1957 335

5.

executive or legislative council but this has never been
accepted by the Bahrain Government and we ourselves have

never regarded Bahrain us being ripe for such an innovation.
The Administration Council though an appointed body provides
oomo consultative machinery in addition to the will of the
Ruler and so do the councils for health and education which
have a measure of elected membership (five members each elec tod

by the four municipal councils - two from Manamu and one each
from Muhurraq, Hedd and Rifa'a), The Ruler, too, by his
decision of December 1956 to reconstitute the municipal
councils by appointing a wider selection of members for a year,
after which half of them would be elected as before, has also
helped in this respect and this action ha6 been generally.
welcomed in Bahrain. The root of the problem is the feudal

autocratic concept of government hold by the Ruler himself und !
i
by the A1 Khalifa which is not at all shared by the generality
of Bahrainis, including the most enlightened of them, It has
therefore always been necessary for us to push the Ruler along
this particular road, without of course pushing him into

anything that would be undesirable, At present it may be said
that the position is buing held. Popular agitation has for !
the time being been scotched and reasonable opinion is satisfied
:
but it is impossible to say how long such a state of affairs ■
will last, given the continual incitement against established
authority being poured out by the Cairo and Damascus wireless.
Another cause of popular and indeed general dissatisfaction

has been the law courts. Here the judges, with the exception
of Sir Charles Belgrave, the Adviser, have been by tradition
and otill arc members of the Al Khalifa family, Neither they
«
nor the Adviser have any legal qualifications ouch as degrees.
And even the Judiclul Advisor, Mr. Peace, who is u fully
qualified lawyer and who sits on the bench, does not actually
sign/