Page 556 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

Monday [19 May]

Shaikh Abdulla came in to call and to talk about the diving business, also Sulman for the Court so they were
both there when we interviewed the merchants, we had six of them in and talked for about two hours. They
said that the men simply would not go diving on the present advances. Abdulla thinks there is danger of
trouble in Muharrak as there are so many foreigners there, wild Bedus from the south of Arabia and a lot of
Dawasir and some Somalis who would welcome a bit of a riot as a chance of doing some bazaar looting. One
big boat owner, Jabr bin Masellem, had tried every possible means to get even one boat full of divers to start
off but it was no good. About seventy of his men took their advances but they refused to go diving.
Eventually we thought of an idea to allow the divers to take an advance up to Rs 20 which would be
deducted against their next advance at the end of the season. This seemed to satisfy the situation. Had a
very late breakfast and then went down to the court which ended fairly early. In the afternoon we had
people to tea and tennis and afterwards we played Bridge. Ali bin Hussein came round in the evening after
dinner to discuss municipal affairs. A very busy time, what with all this bother about the divers and the
Annual report and Customs I really seem to have not a moment to spare in the day.

Tuesday 20th May

The Shaikh and Abdulla and Sulman came in in the morning and after some talk we went over to the Agency
to discuss the diving question Prior told the Shaikh very plainly that he was entirely to blame because he had
given in to them last year, and that now this fuss would probably happen every year, quite true too. The
Shaikh put on a bored expression and left the conversation to us, we went over it very thoroughly and finally
decided that there was nothing to do but to adopt our suggestion of the morning so Sulman and I came back
and drafted the proclamation which the Shaikh signed when he came over later on. It is not very satisfactory
but the best way out of a bad business. Went down to the Customs and then back to the office. Yousif
Kanoo came to tea. He looked extremly well and has developed a black beard instead of his gray one, dyed.
He was quite pleasant but reproached me for not having replied to his telegram at Christmas. He talked very
gloomily about the pearl market and the state of trade generally. He thinks it is very bad but he is no more
pessimistic than other people. His idea is that if the American cotton market pulls up there may be a chance
of selling last season's pearls but unless it does so we shall be in a very serious position. £375,000 worth of
pearls was lately sent to America to sell, by the Paris sellers, and they all came back unsold. The cultured
pearls too are doing a lot of harm to the markets everywhere. He had seen a good deal of the Ghandi
business in India but said that the action of the Govt in giving him rope to hang himself was very wise. When
he left Bombay, about ten days ago, there was a general strike and he could buy nothing, not even fruit in the
market. He said that the Arabs in Bombay were absolutely against Ghandi and most of the Indian
Mohamedans as well.

Wednesday 21st May

Went to the Joint Court and saw the Shaikh, still trouble about the diving business, few if any of the boats
have gone, issued yet another proclamation. The Shaikh, as he has been all through the show, was very silly
about it, Abdulla and Rashid were there and we all gave our opinions. Busy morning in office, a lot of people