Page 122 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920

112 PERSIAN GTJI/R AI)SilNl8TttA.TI0N REPORT

CHAPTER XI.

ADMINISTRATION REPORT FOR THE POLITICAL AGENCY,
KUWAIT, FOR THE YEAR 1912.
The year under review has been a remarkably prosperous one for Kuwait
The chief reasons for this fortunate
0“armL state are the comparative peace of the
desert routes which permitted the free transit of caravans, the good condi.
tion of the cattle in the desert, which allowed the realization of
prices for them as well as for other desert produce, and the favourable pearl
season which, following as.it did on two previous good years, has made money
plentiful and cheap in the town and 60 enriched the seafaring folk that their
extravagance now bids fair to make Kuwait a rival to Bahrain in its notoriety
for the high cost of wages and living.
Although the growth in trade, the rise in the prices of practically all coni-
modities, and the exceedingly high wages now demanded by all crafts brims
about temporarily an atmosphere of great affluence, a reaction seems bound to
follow on the 'slightest depression in trade or the pearl-market for the poorer
classes are thriftless to a degree; indeed a man who can easily earn as much as
Rs. 5 a day is, as often as not, heavily in debt. No one seems to contemplate
the possibility of a lean year, nor to consider the desirability of making some
provision and when it docs come, I fear the distress in the town will be severe.
The highest maximum temperature recorded during the year was IIS0 tor
cum.u. ..a P10™* and, excepting a few days
m the beginning of that month, which
were rather trying owing to the prevalence of southerly winds, the sum­
mer on the whole was not very severe, though not as mild as that of
the previous year. The winter also was much milder, the minimum
recorded temperature being 36° as compared with 217° of the previous*
year. The total rainfall registered at the Agency Observatory amounted to
only 2 inches 66\ cents, winch is less than half the average (the average of tin-
past three years is inches 39 cents). The rainfall sufficed at the beginning ot
the year to provide fair grazing and fodder, but the absence of rain in November
and December is causing anxiety ; and there will be scarcity and impoverish­
ment of the livestock in the desert in the ensuing year, unless copious rain falls
early in January 1913.
. An extract prepared from the Agency daily meteorological reports is
attached as Appendix L
On 14th January a sensation was caused by the arrest of one Sagbar
bin Ghanim and some of his followers
Local .flair*
on a charge of conspiracy against Shaikh
Mubarak’s life. The man was one of the Shaikh’s trusted leaders in his
expedition against Shaikh 8a’adun of the Muntaficic in 1910, and it see ned
unlikely that he would attach himself to any such forlon hope as a con­
spiracy against the Shaikh. Local opinion still adheres to this view, though
toe Shaikh, asserts he found incontrovertible evidence among the man’s papery
Sa^har was kept in chains until the I9th May when it transpired that the sight
of both of his eyes had been brutally destroyed; this news, though kept secret for
some time! was received with execration by any who dared express an opinion
On 16th December he was released on condition that he should leave Kuwait
immediately and not settle at either Basrah, Zobair, Bahrain or on the Shatt-cl-
Arab, but eventually the Shaikh waived these conditions and 8aghar is notf
occupying his old house, a broken man, morally and physically.
The town continues to be thoroughly well governed, and there is no serious
crime to report with the exception of one incident which took place in Shan”
Mubarak's absence. A serious assault with robbery was committed by sC®
of Hie Shaikh's men, during the night of the 16th October, on a Bahrain
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