Page 99 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

Ordering space, politics and community in Manama, 1880s–1919 79

1 per cent to their leader Gungaram ibn Tika. 10 By 1904 the prestige of
Shaykh ‘Isa in Manama was ‘at a very low ebb’ according to Lorimer, and
rumours were even circulating of impending hostilities as a result of the
renewed factionalism within the Al Khalifah family. 11
In the general climate of distrust and uncertainty which characterised
the period before and after the appointment of Shaykh Hamad as heir
apparent, foreign merchants were able to profit extensively from con-
tracts. Sometime before 1908, a group of entrepreneurs from the Ahwaz
district in Iran took over the harbour, replacing ‘Abd al-Nabi Kazeruni,
the former Persian landing contractor (hammal bashi) and keeper of
Shaykh ‘Isa’s warehouse in Manama. Despite the considerable sums
paid to the ruler in advance by the syndicate of Indian merchants which
controlled the customs, only two-fifths of the revenue collected by them
was pocketed by Shaykh ‘Isa between 1895 and 1899. Although contracts
were stipulated to run over a three-year period, the syndicate started to
buy new leases two years in advance by the early 1890s, partly out of fear of
losing the business and partly prompted by Shaykh ‘Isa’s demands for
ready cash. 12
The mid 1890s also marked a palpable shift in British policy as imperial
concerns for the protection of trade started to be directed towards the
management of the customs house. In 1899, the Political Resident M. J.
Meade visited Bahrain to discuss the employment of a customs official
from the Indian civil service. As Shaykh ‘Isa had already signed a new
contract with the Indian syndicate for a further two years starting in March
1902, the residency swiftly withdrew its support from the Indian tax-
farmers as ‘the continued possession of the customs contract by the
Banias is not to the advance [sic] of British interests in Bahrain’. 13
Besides paralleling the recognition of Shaykh Hamad as heir apparent,
plans for customs reform resulted in the posting of an assistant political
agent to Manama in 1900 who replaced the native agent. Moreover, the
upgrading of the British representative to political agent in 1904 coincided
with yet another refusal by Shaykh ‘Isa to bow to British pressure for

10
R/15/1/315 IOR: Declaration by Shaykh ‘Isa ibn ‘Ali Al Khalifah, Jumada al-Ula 1314/
October 1897; Native Agent Bahrain to Political Resident Bushehr, 19 Muharram 1318/
29 May 1899; Native Agent Bahrain to Political Resident Bushehr, 2 and 27 August 1898.
11
Lorimer, Gazetteer, vol. I, pp. 928 ff. and 2552.
12
R/15/1/315 IOR: Note by Assistant Political Resident Bushehr, 27 May 1899; Customs
Agreement, 5 Jumada al-Thaniyyah 1315; memo by Assistant Political Agent Bahrain,
23 December 1899; correspondence Political Resident Bushehr to Government of India,
8 January 1800, n. 3 of 1900. Assistant Political Agent Bahrain to Tax-Farmers, 31 October
1904, n. 251, R/15/1/330 IOR.
13
Confidential correspondence from Political Resident Bushehr to Calcutta, 8 January
1900, n. 3 of 1900, R/15/1/315 IOR.