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144 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

municipality got its share. In a similar fashion, when the butchers asked
the municipality to lower the rent of their stalls (which started to be fixed
by municipal decree in June 1928), the council turned their plea directly
to Shaykh Salman, the owner of the premises. In 1934, the butchers took
drastic action. In defiance of baladiyyah regulations, for two days they
sold meat outside the market, fixing their own price. After some negotia-
tions, baladiyyah officials confiscated the meat while large numbers of
79
al-qassabun were taken to court and fined heavily, with no right of appeal.
Claims to old feudal entitlements also continued to hinder attempts by
the baladiyyah to control the meat trade into the 1930s. The control of the
slaughterhouse continued to be the subject of a dispute with Shaykh
Salman, who invoking tribal custom argued that any right enjoyed by
the municipality was a personal concession (hibah) which he could revoke
at any moment. As Belgrave intervened in 1933, the municipality issued a
statement to the effect that the new slaughterhouse was rebuilt at munic-
ipal expenses in 1927 and as such it had de facto come under municipal
control. But it was only with the programme of food rationing enforced
during World War II that the baladiyyah was able to consolidate its
position in the meat market. The fixing of prices triggered another series
of strikes by the butchers in 1945, forcing the baladiyyah to sell meat
directly to the public. After this episode, the imposition of a direct tax on
butchers recognised their status as a professional group under municipal
supervision in the same way as bakers, peddlers, porters and builders, all
of which started to be licensed in 1931. 80
Besides the resilience of tribal custom and privileges, a complex net-
work of old and new commercial intermediaries constrained the cen-
tralisation of the collection of revenue. As the municipality acquired
tax-farming rights on the fish and vegetable markets after 1939, a new
class of municipal brokers became established. Independent dallalun,
however, continued to demand their fees. Moreover, attempts by the
municipality in the 1940s at doing away with the brokerage system alto-
gether in order to enforce direct collections encountered fierce resistance
on the part of licensed brokers. The case of the wood trade is emblematic.
Until 1934, the official municipal broker Qutb al-Din Ibn Jalal paid
yearly advances to the baladiyyah in the form of a licence fee, also

79
MMBM, 7 and 22 Dhu al-Qa‘dah 1351/4 and 19 March 1933, R/15/2/1921 IOR; minutes
by Assistant Political Agent Bahrain, 26 November 1934, R/15/2/1920 IOR.
80
R/15/2/806 IOR, particularly Belgrave to Political Agent Bahrain, 16 September 1933.
MMBM, 19 Safar 1359 and 13 Sha‘ban 1362/28 March 1940 and 15 August 1943, R/15/
2/1925 IOR; Article n. 52 ‘Surah Qanun al-Baladiyyah’, c. 1929, R/15/2/1250 IOR.
‘Annual Report for the Year 1365’ in The Bahrain Government Annual Reports, 1924–
1970, vol. III, p. 84.