Page 376 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

374

1928

Saturday 10th [March]

Court, very few cases. Parke came in & also Creese the APOC man. PR sent for me at Agency. Had a long talk with
him about the Persia business. His idea is to get the Shaikhs to admit being definitely under Brit. protection in their
letter to the League of Nations. He asked me to try & persuade them to do this, but then he altered him mind and said
it would be better if they did it themselves & I was not to persuade them but leave the writing of the letter to them.
Yesterday he had discussed the question of the letter with Isa & Hamed. Hamed & his brothers had been agreable but
Isa had seemed decidedly obstinate about it. The P.R. seems to find it difficult to follow a definite course of action - it
makes it awkward. I had been going out tomorrow.

Played tennis at Agency in the afternoon. Resident asked us to come in & play Bridge but then they didnt
play. He treats the house as his own & chases poor Mrs Barrett from room to room. Usually she & Mrs Haworth sit in
one of the bedrooms. His six huge Persian attendants, in blue & scarlet, hang about the passages all day. The day the
Shaikh called I saw them listening outside the door to the really important conversation of the Shaikh & the Resident. I
spoke to him about it & he apparently thought I was right as the next time I called he was very careful & when talking,
in the hall, whispered & spelt out words like a sort of stage conspirator. Probably some of his staff are in the pay of
Persia & report everything that goes on.

Sunday 11th [March]

Went over to the Agency in the morning. More talk about the Persian letter. They showed me the British Reply - a
very confidential document & quite sound, sent by Chamberlain. Arranged that I should take out translations of both
documents, the demand & our reply, to the Shaikh in the afternoon. The Agency were to translate them & send them
over to me. I waited two hours for the letters to come & then wrote over saying it was too late & that I would go out
tomorrow morning. Really they are too apallingly muddly over there. Entirely wasted a whole afternoon. Went out
for a walk & then to dinner & Bridge with Holmes - Parke was there. We all discussed the Resident & his ways - he
said yesterday when people were dining there, that he would not play Bridge as he had to think over some problems! A
conceited remark.

Monday March 12th

Sh Abdulla came in the morning. Had a talk to him. He said that Sh Isa had been very much against the idea of
signing a letter but had eventually been persuaded to do so. He was most sensible about everything. We motored with
him out to Sakhrir taking translations of the two documents. Sulman & the Shaikh were there looking extremely
sleepy & rather cross. The Shaikh showed some slight interest in the question, but not much. He remarked, pointing to
the house, that in every room there were people sleeping & he would have been sleeping if I had not come out. Rather
a hint! They discussed question of having a "go" at the Persians after the whole business was settled, by making them
either leave or become Bahrain subjects. Also discussed Dawasir question. Drove back in the Fiat in time for a late
lunch. Tennis at the Mission. Went round to the Agency after tea. Ayesha and her mother came in to call at 9.30 pm,
late because of Ramadan. They didnt stay long. Ayesha said Ramadan was a silly childish institution with no sense in
it. She looked very handsome & beautifully dressed. She is very pleased with the photographs of herself & her
mother.