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Chapter Seven

                  slaves, without whom their pearling ventures would be totally
                  destroyed. Thus, the threat that the British Government might
                  impose a general manumission loomed large, and the influential
                  merchants of Dubai together with the Ruler’s cousins further
                  criticised the Ruler for not impressing upon the British Government
                  representatives more successfully that Dubai should not be forced to
                  accept general manumission. In the event this issue was not enforced
                  by the British Government until long after the Second World War.

                  Sonic wind of change
                  Some of the A1 Bu Falasah and other prominent merchants realised
                  that employment had to be provided for the many people who had
                  been thrown out of work by the decline of the pearling industry.
                  When a scheme to deepen the creek to prepare it for the oil companies
                  was first considered, and when the possibility arose of the construc­
                  tion of an airstrip as a result of an air traffic agreement between the
                  Ruler and the British Government,23 they suggested that the Ruler
                  should insist on the employment of local labour. Already, then, the
                  principle was formulated that foreign companies operating in Dubai
                  were required to recruit and train local people. Initially this applied
                  particularly to the oil company which had made a preliminary
                  agreement with the Ruler on 22 May 1937.
                    A latent but important influence on life in Dubai was the rapidly
                  increasing frequency of contacts with the world outside the Gulf and
                  outside British India. The landing of civilian and military aircraft, the
                  increase in steamer traffic, but above all the Second World War itself
                  sharpened the awareness of the fact that the way of life in the
                  industrial countries was spreading fast and had become of some
                 relevance even to the traditional society of the Trucial States. The
                  wish to bring modern medicine to the City State was prevalent
                 among the leading families in Dubai some time before the Majlis
                 engaged in the process of recruiting a doctor. Modern education was
                 inaugurated during the short life of that Majlis in the atmosphere and
                 spirit which arose from the realisation that there were important
                 developments in the world at large, and from the determination that
                 the society of Dubai should not fail to take full advantage of such of
                 these developments as would benefit the City State. Schools were
                 opened in quick succession, and the introduction of the English
                 language was considered desirable from the beginning.
                   The economic decline of the 1930s and 1940s caused changes

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