Page 162 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

142 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

acquired formal representation in the majlis, partly as a result of their
traditional reluctance to engage in local politics.

Contest over the local markets
As the markets which sold local produce remained part of the family estate
of the Al Khalifah, customary practice continued to regulate the transfer
of properties from the ruler to his relatives. In 1927, the control of the fish
and vegetable markets was given by Shaykh Hamad to his son Salman as
heir apparent. When he succeeded in 1942, the fish market came under
the control of his brother, Da‘ij, who resided in Manama and served as
judge in the Bahrain Court. Moreover, as the ruling family continued to
be the largest owners of real estate, municipal taxes on shops and ware-
houses were strictly enforced upon tenants. There was no question to
impose taxation upon the Al Khalifah shaykhs. They were notoriously
reluctant to abandon the privileges they had enjoyed before the reforms, as
suggested on several occasions by Belgrave. 74
After the collapse of pearling, the shaykhs refashioned themselves as
market entrepreneurs under the aegis of the baladiyyah. In 1937 Shaykh
Hamad transformed the open market which was used by occasional sellers
of agricultural produce into a new commercial complex. While members
of the ruling family continued to collect rent and invest in the modernisa-
tion of market facilities, the municipality supported their monopolistic
policies in order to establish its fiscal rights. During the pearl recession the
baladiyyah started to fix prices and to enforce strict supervision over the
workforce. From 1931 the sale of local produce such as fruit and fish
outside the Al Khalifah markets was banned by municipal decree.
Overseas and local suppliers of meat, a commodity which continued to
bring considerable revenue to Shaykh Hamad, were also placed under
close municipal scrutiny. 75 In the first years of municipal government the
Al Khalifah continued to appoint their own tax-farmers and brokers
(al-dallalun) in the meat, vegetable and fish markets in order to collect

74
British Resident Bahrain to Foreign Office, 2 June 1951, FO 371/91264 Public
Record Office (hereafter PRO); Belgrave to Political Agent Bahrain, 22 June 1935, R/15/2/
1922 IOR.
75
‘Administrative Report for the Years 1926–1937’ in The Bahrain Government Annual
Reports, 1924–1970, vol. II, p. 45; I‘lan Baladiyyah al-Manamah, n. 11 of 1353, R/15/2/
1921 IOR; I‘lan Baladiyyah al-Manamah, n. 369/17 of 1346, R/15/2/1208 IOR; I‘lan
Hukumah al-Bahrayn, n. 1430 of 1347, R/15/2/1227 IOR and I‘lan Hukumah al-Bahrayn
n. 49 of 1356, R/15/2/1229 IOR; MMBM, 17 Rabi‘ al-Thani, 1357/16 June 1938, R/15/2/
1924 IOR; petition from Zayer Abbas ibn Zayer Muhammad Dashti to Political Agent
Bahrain, 13 November 1937 and Belgrave to Political Agent Bahrain, 23 November 1937,
R/15/2/1896 IOR.