Page 430 - Records of Bahrain (7) (ii)_Neat

820 Records of Bahrain

BRITISH RESIDENCY,
(21 81 ) Deceived in
ANC'W" v BAHRAIN.
T22*JUL 19G0 lily 1 8, 1960.
CONFIDENTIAL
I

3 o
I hod Loon holding up my comments on Tod Wiltshire's
letter 2182/18/60 of Juno 23 to Morgan Man about Dennys'6
occondmont to the Bahrain Government, since I wished to
discuss the whole question with Archer, who arrived here
yesterday.
2o The Bahrain Labour Ordinances have not hitherto been
successful pieces of legislation, In fact they have
been unfortunate examples of attempting to make the
Bahrainis run before they can walk. As Dennys has pointed
out in paragraph 2 of his report "The Ordinances were of
a very advanced character, considering conditions in
Bahrain generally when they came into force", Practice
has shown that it is hopeless to attempt to secure anything
like full compliance with the Labour Ordinances until
(a) the Bahrain courts are capable of dealing
with breaches of them; and
(b) the Bahrain Labour Department are willing
and able to bring actions to court.
Both these conditions are still absent, Y/e are, as you
know, putting pressure on-the Ruler to reform the judicature
and I have hopes that this pressure will eventually achieve
results. It will, however, be a considerable time before
the courts are uble to deal impartially with actions under
the Labour Ordinances since these actions are likely to
conflict with thooe vested interests among the members of
the Ruling Family and the more influential merchants which
are still effective obstacles in the v/ay of progress.
3o Dennys lias tried hard to improve the will of the
Labour Department to implement the Labour Ordinances but
lias so far had little success. Tliere is as yet no sign
that the Department is prepared to carry out the re­
organisation Y/hich will be necessary before they can hope
to watch effectively over the lav/ and there is no likelihood
that in so short a period as a further four months Dennys
could effect any improvement in the situation. Unfortunately
Dennys has attempted himself to secure some compliance with
the law by acting as an inspector and going round talking
to employees behind their employers' backs and ofton without
prior notice to the employers, This, in my view, was
perhaps unv/ise and has aroused much resentment among the
employers who have accused Dennys of fomenting discontent.
This resentment has also boen directed at Her Majesty's
Government who are held responsible for Dennys's actions.
While I sympathise with Dennys in his attempts to better the
lot of the Bahraini underdog, I am sure that it would be
a mistake for II.M.G. to appear to support him in this
activity. If Y/o are to secure a mcaouro of reform in
R.A. Beaumont Esq., C.M.G., O.B.E • f /Bahrain. •«
Foreign Office.
London, S.W.1. CONFIDENTIAL