Page 377 - Records of Bahrain (7) (i)_Neat

Annual review, 1959 363
CONFIDENTIAL

ANNUAL REVIEW OF BAHRAIN AFFAIRS FOR 1959.

Baliraln enjoyed a year of increaolng prosperity in 1959,
thanks to the comparative lull in the turbulence of the Middle
East, No great change in the island's relations with Britain
could be observed, nor in ita ways of administering itself.
The main event was the heart attack of His Highness the Ruler
on June 16 necessitating his hospitalisation in the Bahrain
Petroleum Company's hospital for 53 dayo. Messages of
sympathy were exchanged between Her Majesty's Secretary of
8tate for Foreign Affairs and His Highness, Aa the year ended,
however, his mental and physical health seemed almost fully
restored, although some anxiety wau caused by a fainting attack
in December, which, according to his doctors, was unconnected
with hlB former heart trouble. His influenoe in state affairs
was certainly undiminished but he was no longer capable of his
former attention to ceremoniu'l and minor administrative details,
which he tended to leave to the Heir Apparent, Shaikh Isa, who
had deputised for him during his hospitalisation, His
prejudices and conservative tendencies seem to have become, if
anything, stronger.
2. The Ruler’s illness hud the effect of revealing two
sources of discontent. The choice of the DAPCO Hospital for
his hospitalisation, rather than the Government Hospital,
rov^'od criticism of the Medical Services, resulting in the
Baliraih Government’s inviting Sir Eric Prldie, Chief Medical
Officer to the Colonial Office, to visit Bahrain in i960 to
investigate and report on their re-orgunioatlon. Secondly,
it was revealed that some influential members of the Ruling
Family Btill disapproved of the appointment of the Ruler'o
eldest son, Shaikh Isa, as heir apparent, and professed thero-
aelvea generally discontented with the patriarchal system under
which Bahrain was ruled, The Ruler’s recovery quietened these
complaints, however, at any rate temporarily.
3. Although the government machine operated fairly satis­
factorily during the year, there woo evidence of friction between
some Government Departments and the Secretariat, ar.d criticism
of Mr. G.W.R. Smith, the Secretary, by both Balirainl6 and
British members of the Government continued to be heard, Of
four resignations by British officials only one, that of the •
Director of Agriculture, was, however, in the nature of a
protest, and that against the agricultural policy of the i
Government: even for this resignation there were also cogent
personal reasons. Earlier complaints by the Director of
Public Health of lack of attention to prophylactic measures
when expenditure wa6 being lavished elsewhere received Justifi­
cation when a severe malaria outbreak occurred late in the year.
4. The only political demonstration was a pro-Nasser antl-
Qaoim one by schoolchildren in March which was efficiently con­
trolled by the police. There was little evidence of political
discontent during the year, apart from the continued regular
appearance of subversive leaflets, and the painting of anti-
British slogans on the walls of the Agency and the Government
Secretariat opposite, in December. The leaflets, though
variously signed, appear to originate with three rival
organisations calling themselves the Arab Nationalist Movement,
the National Liberation Front and the Arab Youth of Bahrain

respectively, /

CONFIDENTIAL