Page 451 - PERSIAN 8 1931_1940_Neat

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though methylated spirit is denaturalised and every effort made to suppress
this form of evil.
Partly owing to the amount of traffic on the roads at night there has
been no cases of dacoity during the year.
There has been no change in the organisation of the naturs who have
carried out their duties satisfactorily under the various Amirs. A natur
post has been opened at Budaiyah.
5. Local Affairs.—(i) On the night of the 15/ 16th December a serious
fire broke out and destroyed the vegetable and wood1 markets. Almost the
entire stock of firewood in Manamah was burnt. His Excellency Shaikh
Sir Ilamad bin ’Isa A1 Khalifah, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., Ruler of Bahrain,
contributed Rs. 2,000 and the Bahrain Government Rs. 2,000 to the perma­
nent fund of the Manamah Municipality for fire relief victims to be allocat­
ed by the Council among the sufferers from this fire.
(ii) A party of small boys, who were playing in a water channel at
Shakhura village, chanced upon a concealed hoard of gold coins, which
tumbled out of an hole in the bank on the site of an old house. A number
of the coins were found to be Turkish coins of the time of Sultan ’Abdul
Hamid bin Ahmad (A. II. 1187). One coin was, however, a Venetian gold
ducat of A. D. 1280—89.
6. The Bahrain Petroleum Company, Limited.—(i) Mr. G. W. R.
Smith acted as Chief Local Representative throughout the year.
(ii) Mr. B. A. Skinner acted as Resident Manager throughout the
year.
(iii) Work on the Refinery proceeded apace during the year. The
construction work was not, however, completed, as it had been hoped, by
the end of the year.
(iv) On the night of 18/19th April a small section of the temporary
British personnel employed in connection with the construction of the Refi­
nery, who had for some time been giving trouble, started a real “Rough
House” in the course of which the Resident Manager, who had attempted
to quiet the disturbance, was assaulted and several persons more or less
badly hurt. The Political Agent’s help was invoked by the Company.
Special Constables were appointed and on one night when serious trouble
appeared possible, a strong party of Bahrain Police, under the Commandant
of Police (Mr. C. Dalrymple Belgravc), was stationed on the outskirts of
the Camp until early the next morning. Four of the ringleaders were on
the 25th April repatriated under Section 21 (1) of the Bahrain Order in
Council.
(v) 500,400 tons of crude oil and 9,200 tons of fuel oil were shipped
from Bahrain during the year in forty-one tankships of various nationali­
ties (8 American, 16 Norwegian, 6 British, 3 Danish, 5 Japanese, 2 Italian
and 1 French), the total royalty due to the State amounted to Rs. 17,83,600.
(vi) On the 31st December the Company’s employees by nationalities
numbered:—
Americana
153
European British subjects
157
Indian British subjocts
323
Bahrainis .
3,747
Others
058
7. Agriculture—The question of re-establishing the Department of
consider T*6’ Was c^oscc* ow*n£ to financial stringency, has been under
8. Customs.—The Customs revenue amounted to Rs. 8,12 417 as com­
pared with Rs. 6,31,779 collected during the previous year. Of this
amount transit duty on shipments to the mainland amounted to Rs l in
compared with Rs. 84,455 during the previous year„
48(C) ExA flairs Dept.