Page 341 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920

ron TIIB YEAR 1014. 61
Licutonant-Colonol S. G. Knox; OXE, Political Resident, visited Bahrain
visitor*. in R I. M. 8. u LawronceM on Hay
~ Tr n r p nor ... _ ^ljt and September 29lh. Sir Peroy
’ ^ G.o.l., was 'with tho Expeditionary Force during its stay at
There woro no epidemics during tho year, oxcept the outbreak of plague
UcaHh. mentioned above.
The Meteorological records kept in fclie Mason Memorial Hospital of the
Cliimte. Arabian Mission show that the year has
been one of moderate temperature with a
very high percentage of humidity. The maximum temperature for the year
registered on August 2nd was 10*°, though tho wet bulb frequently showed 88°
and over at 8 a.m. The lowest temperature for tlie year, 52°, was registered
on January 3rd.
Wo rain, except for one slight shower, fell till the middlo of November,
but from then on there was considerable precipitation.
The usual summer 4< Shamal19 or north wind was stronger than usual and
lasted, from June into August. A cyclonic storm, fortunately of short
duration, did considerable damage to buildings and shipping in Novombor.
Bahrain was ill-prepared for a bad season in 1911. The year before last
about a million and a quarter sterling was
Pvarl Trjdo.
brought into the islands by tho sale of an
excellent catch at high prices but the boom was not maintained in 1913,
as the Manager of Messrs. Rosenthal, in an effort to corner the market, paid
such high prices that the dealers were dazzled and declined to sell at more
reasonable rates to the other European buyers. The Bombay merchants who
had sufficient pearls in stock merely watched the market, and consequently at
the commencement of this season the Arab merchants who were moreover
somewhat demoralised by their success of 1912, and in a weak position from
the small sales of 1913, started with large stocks in hand. The early part
of the season was chiefly spent in manoeuvring, and, before serious buying
bad commenced, rumours of the impending War in Europo reached
Bahrain. Only some £60,000 had been spent in Bahrain itself and a
negligible sum on the rest of the pearl banks. The larger part of this,
too, had fallen to the share of the Hindu Baniahs, who so largely
contribute to the financing of the trade, and the Arab merchants secured but
little. By the time the stream had descended through the Nakhudas to the
divers it had become extremely exiguous, while practically nothing reached
the petty traders who, during the off season, feed and clothe the divers and
their dependants on credit.
Several of these had not been able to survive the poor season of 1913, and
many had gone bankrupt before rumours of War cut off the stream, for good.
When War was declared the whole fleet was celebrating Ramzan with the
usual extravagance. The sudden drying up of credit caused something of a
panic, and a certain amount of difficulty was experienced in financing the
fleet for the second fishing, but the temporary prohibition of the export
of food-stuffs and the fixing of prices allayed this, and in the end practically
all the boats started for the banks. While the financing of the fleet hung in
the balance it seemed as if Bahrain was in for a period of very serious distress
immediately, but Shaikh Isa rose to his responsibilities, and the closing of the
Shatt-cl-Arab, and the consequent inability of a very large number of tlie
riverain divers, who had gone to their homes for Ramzan, to return to
Bahrain largely reduced the numbers of divers for whom provision would have
had to be made. The divers from Hassa also, who, unlike those from the rest
of the Arab Coast, have other sources of employment, were several hundred
short at the commencement of the second fishing. The British India Steam
Navigation Company generously reduced their fares from Bahrain for two
months after the closing of the second fishing. Some 600 of these cheap
passages rwere granted, and Shaikh Isa advised all Nakhudas to advance
sufficient monoy to their foreign divers to enable them to go elsewhere to seek
l