Page 98 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

78 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

merchants, while the Al Khalifah ‘amarah (warehouse) came under the
separate management of a tax-farmer who was directly responsible to the
ruler. 8
As the harbour was the only fiscal barrier separating Manama from its
maritime foreland, the consolidation of the customs administration
reflected the trade boom of the late nineteenth century. Between 1888
and 1898 alone the volume of trade increased by more than 40 per cent
and the value of pearl exports grew more than twofold. Foreign trade
engaged increasing numbers of merchants, labourers and native vessels as
a result of growing European economic penetration in the Gulf. In 1903
the British agency asked Grey Mackenzie, the firm which represented the
British India Steam Navigation Company in Bahrain, to grant a large
interest-free loan to the harbour’s contractors for the purchase of addi-
tional craft. The contractors complained that most lighters neglected their
duties, preferring to trade directly with the mainland, a practice which had
become increasingly lucrative as a result of the circulation of European
goods. Boat building had expanded accordingly, and the extent of the
importance of this industry in the local market can be gauged by the wages
of skilled labourers, which had doubled in comparison with previous
years. 9
Increased wealth coupled with the growing influence of the British
agency fuelled economic and political competition. Shaykh ‘Isa refused
any interference in the management of Manama’s rudimentary port facili-
ties on the part of European firms, as he considered it a violation of his
personal monopoly over the harbour. At the same time, the ruler of
Bahrain could not make use of growing receipts from trade to consolidate
his authority. As the Government of India had successfully imposed his
son Hamad as heir apparent in 1900 in order to ensure a smooth succes-
sion, Shaykh ‘Isa was forced to distribute large amounts of cash, lavish
gifts and land grants to assuage the sensitivities of Shaykh ‘Ali, the Al
Khalifah governor of Manama, and of his tribal allies. Unable to extract
revenue from the town’s markets which were under ‘Ali’s control, Shaykh
‘Isa raised the duty on the export of oysters, mussels and of mother-of-
pearl shells in an attempt to pocket the surplus directly, bypassing the
authority of the syndicate of Indian merchants. The Banyan responded
swiftly, and the ruler was eventually forced to farm out the additional

8
Assistant Political Agent Bahrain to Political Resident Bushehr, 19 December 1903,
n. 277, 26 March 1904, n. 76, R/15/2/49 IOR. Lorimer, Gazetteer, vol. I, p. 928.
9
Lorimer, Gazetteer, vol. I, pp. 298–312, 938, 2552; Political Agent Bahrain to Grey
Mackenzie, 6 May 1903, n. 77 of 1903, R/15/2/49 IOR; ‘Administration Report on the
Persian Gulf Political Residency and Maskat Political Agency for 1903–1904’ in The
Persian Gulf Administration Reports 1873–1949, vol. V, pp. 60–1.