Page 520 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

who loves running round with a petition and stirring up trouble among people. Ali bin Hussein came to see
me; he lately lost his wife, she died very suddenly and as he had only the one he was very devoted to her. A
few days later Shaikh Hamed met him and said, "this is a very sad affair about your wife dying, but here is
two hundred rupees towards a new one." Even among Arabs it was considered a little crudely said. Motored
in the afternoon as usual. Very dull now with Prior away.

Friday 31st January

Went to the Bank in the morning and played Bridge. They saw the moon last night so today is the first of
Ramadan, a tiresome time in some ways but restful as we have no courts or meetings. No tennis at Agency
as Prior still away, went out to the Portuguese Fort in the afternoon, very pleasant out there. Very dull here
these days. Reading a book called General Crack which I like much.

Saturday February 1st 1930

Shaikh Mohamed came to call, very oily and constantly referring to himself as "your friend" in the way he
does, and all because he wanted to borrow some money. He also tried to persuade me to ask The Shaikh to
buy his house at Senobis for a new Quarantine. Shaikh Abdulla called too mostly to talk about school
matters. Warm day very different to the weather lately. Mail arrived. The Shaikh sent in a petition received
by him from about 170 Bahrain subjects living in Katif asking the Bn Govt to appoint a Consul in Katif. A good
idea. Ibn Saoud would be very angry at the thought. Ali Kanoo called and talked about the pearl market in
Bombay, it is very bad indeed. We have now started the road across the sea to Muharrak, a great causeway
to connect the two islands. It will take several years to make and I think it is a waste of money but everyone
is desperately keen on it. Motored out along the Rafaa road in the afternoon. Bahrain seems very dull these
days. My clerks, who are all Mohamedans except one, asked that we should open the office at nine oclock
during Ramadan, I agreed as there is not so much work to do.

Sunday 2nd [February]

The two headmasters and all the teachers of the Sunni schools in Manama and Muharrak suddenly went on
strike and shut up the schools, they made speeches to the boys saying that either they would get rid of our
school inspector or else they would leave their jobs. The whole thing has been organised by the headmaster
of the Muharrak School assisted by several of the masters who are his relations. They are all Syrians from
one town in Syria. I am very angry about it. The schools until we got the Inspector have been run very badly
and the Muharrak headmaster has had it all his own way, this is the reason that he resented being
supervised. The Inspector is in a great fuss about it naturally. Motored to Rafaa and back and in the evening
went over to Muharrak to see Shaikh Abdulla, we crossed and when I arrived I found he had gone to
Manama but fortunately we met on the sea on our way back and he came onto my boat and we had a long
consultation. The Shaikh went over to Muharrak for the day. Abdulla is loath to dismiss the two
headmasters, which was what I suggested. He has always been very friendly with the ringleader. We