Page 444 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

442

1929

Thursday [30 May]

Called on the Kadi Shaikh Abdulla in the morning before breakfast. I persuaded him to agree to have Mohamed al
Medani on the Wakf committee, but with very bad grace. It will be a good move in the right direction to get the wakfs
under the control of a committee. It is a difficult subject to tackle as the Shias are very fanatical on the subject. Court.
Mohamed al Medani came in from Gedhafs. Had a long talk with him and eventually asked Shaikh Sulman to come
up. Medani said that the people were all for the committee but they wanted the wakfs to be entirely separate to the
Kadi, not in his control. This is what the Govt has always wanted. He refused to be a member of the council if the
Kadi was to be head. These religious men are really very trying to deal with. Eventually we said we would talk to the
Shaikh about it. In the meantime Shaikh Abdulla sent a very annoyed letter asking why I had not taken over the books
and accounts of the wakfs. Very hot day, people are now saying that it is unusually hot for this time of year. It is hot
enough to wear a short and shirt only in the house and to feel warm in that. In the evening Prior and I went out in the
car to see some pieces of land and then to Idari for a bathe. Prior came in to dinner with me. The engine of my car
seems to get heated so very quickly, sent it to Kanoos but he couldnt find any defect. Hot damp day.

Friday 31st May 1929

Stayed late in bed. Wrote letters and then went to the Bank. No Bridge, it bores me going but if they dont even play
bridge I shall give it up. One sees quite enough of the people here without sitting looking at them for an hour or two on
Fridays. D.G. sat down on the edge of the bridge table and smashed it, he was going to have a curry dinner party, he
asked me but I refused. An ordinary lunch there is a bit of an ordeal but a curry lunch to my mind would be quite too
much to bear. The Strakers looked very ill after it when I saw them at tennis at the Agency, she said it had been
horribly hot. Quite good tennis, all the Mission there. Misses Barny and Tiffany are going on the next up boat.

Saturday [1 June]

No court. The Shaikh came in before breakfast and talked about the Kadi business. He decided to keep Medani in his
post and sent a message to him to that effect. A deputation of Shias had come to bother him about the business. He got
a letter from Prior in which Prior said that the bad lots of the Gulf came to Bahrain because they thought its streets
were strewn with gold. The Shaikh couldnt understand it and read it over and over to himself aloud. Work in the
office all the morning. Slept in the afternoon and then went to tennis at the Agency, Bardon, Dr and Prior so we had
some very good tennis. Abdu Ali came in the evening as I sent for him to consult him about the Kadi business. He
was all for having neither the Kadi or Medani in the Meglis and we agreed to go out tomorrow to see the Shaikh on the
subject. The Mission went out to the pearl banks and in the afternoon it blew up very hard indeed. They say it is the
beginning of the bora.

Sunday [2 June]

Boat came in late in the evening as the weather was so very wild, violent shamaal all night and all today. Drove out to
see the Shaikh in the morning, horrid drive like one long sand storm. The Shaikh seemed very bored at being bothered