Page 257 - Records of Bahrain (4) (ii)_Neat

Bahrain reforms, 1929 559
Pago 12.
22. I oonfooB that I con find nothing that can bo uprooted

in all this, for what woro oonoldered startling Innovations six
yoarn ago aro now accepted as part and parcel of every day life,
•for do I feci that Bahrein can aptly bo compared with JCalat. So
far as I know thoro arc no foreign poworo rootloon and eager to
to envelop ir&t with large and tl^ubulent settlements of their na-
tionalo within ito frontioro. I do not know how many British of-
ficialo there aro In Khlat, but xh when I was in Rujputana there
woro oertafnly throo In Took# a ntato of far loao Imperial impor­

tance than Bahrein, and two of thcoo wore government servants on
deputation. If Indian B^itoo bo oited ao a parallel I will say
that in no Indian State does the Political Agonoy handle 2000
civil and criminal oaseo por annum owning from all over tho 8tate
and not from any ceded area, and th;*t oo long ao thlo position
ao
lo maintained, and m long ao wo rc.(>rcoent foreign intorooto it
u
must be, oo long will a roadjuotment of tho number of British.of-
flciula havo little effoct.
23. Bahrein is the koyotono of our pooition in the Gulf, and
the navol of the Arabian Air route, and a demand will ohortly

come from tho Royal Air Force to bo allowed to plaoo half a
squadron here, or at least a flying boat. Our ponotration of
Bahrein has been inevitable and 1b now accepted and it io too
late to go back now. In fact, it io obvious to the student of
history that Bahrein Y/ill booome another Zanzibar. If a protec­
torate io doolarod the day will be haotonod and ao the adminis­

tration io moro cloooly rogulatod.oo our real porror will diminish
i
Just ao tho powor of tho Bistriot Magistrate in Mount Abu has
doorcaocd olnac it wan leuood from the Sirohis State and made
British territory. Wo should therefore, while not risking tho
lmprovemento we have faced oo much obloquy to bring about, set
our face against any further extonBion of British influence,
which,paradoxically,will only weaken our position, and put off
tho ovil day of what I may term Zanzibarioation uo long ao pos­
sible. Evon Bln Baud lo roportod to havo eald that the Bahrein
Ohaikho havo solved thoir difficult!eo unci have moro money to