Page 89 - Records of Bahrain (7) (i)_Neat

Representational government, 1954 75

COPY
Alitwles.

STRIKE OP 1)-MIR MH TAXI DRIVERS . BUG
drivers Ain) hadt.a.ce cohti factors ' drivers

Although fcho otrlko bogan on
September 25 anil two general meetings were
hold on the following days, It v/ao not until
September 30 that any representative
delegation of the otrikoro camo forward with
formulated demands.
2. Thoy had previously asked
Man our al Orayidh to oca tlio Adviser as a
sort of intermediary, alleging that they
wore afraid that if any of the strikers
themselves come in they would be arrested.
Hot much progress was made with
Mansur al Orayidh oince had had no sort of
authority, but lie did propose, on their,
behalf, a three-months moratorium for the.'
production of insurance certificates and
the setting up of a Government scheme of
z Third Party Insurance,
5
ec 3. On September 30 a delegation of
< four or five taxi and bus owners, headed by
Z
Mansur al Orayidh and Yusuf Injlnoor (who
2 owns six taxis) camo to the Adviser with
X
h their grievances.
2 h. They admitted the desirability
z of Third Party Insurance and agreed that
UJ any scheme for ensuring that adequate
i compensation in the event of accidents was
oc available must bo compulsory for all
* drivers, They objected, however, to being
obliged to take out insurance with
IU
specif.led foreign firms, over whoso charges
there was no control, They proposed, as
O an alter native, the ontablisluiiont of a
H
fund to which all drivers who did not take
O out ordinary Third Party Insurance should
2 contribute and which would constitute a
i reserve for the payment of any damages
h
O awarded against members in cases of
Z accident.
5. The Ilulcr, :lu the meantime, had
become extremely uneasy about the
situation and wan insisting that something
bo done. The Adviser saw him the sumo
evening and the I*lan Uo. u of 1374 was
drafted, of which yon have a copy, This
in, la effect, an amendment of the Hahrnin
Government1 a Third Party Insurance
Ordinance which was applied by Queen's
Regulation Ho. 2 of 1954. It amends it
in two respects, firstly, that the date for
obtaining cortilfilca tou of Third Party
Insurance from approved Companies is
postponed until tho end of December, 1954
and secondly, it makes it lawful for a
driver to be insured in an Association to
bo created before tho end of this year.
Tho description of this Association —
"Sunducj." - is vague in the extreme, but
throo principles seem to be established by
tho new Ordinance; firot, that Thii'd
Party Insurance is compulsory (a driver
must poooouu a certificate, either from
II.E. tho
Political Resident /an .,,