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In June the Bahraini Administration issued a set of announcements. It first

declared the creation of a committee specialising in reviewing Bahraini traffic law.

The second announcement was regarding the Penal Code, which was first set to be

written following the events of 1954, was now to be introduced on 1 August. The

Government also announced the formation of a press censorship committee. Finally

-- and for the first time in the Adviser’s career -- the Adviser’s duties during his

absence in the summer of 1955 while on leave were to be taken over by GWR Smith,

the Director of Customs. 340

A new nationalist biweekly newspaper appeared for the first time in early

June since the closure of Al-Qafilah. The new newspaper was to be managed by the

same team that supervised the former paper and was named as Al-Watan (The

Nation). 341 The newspaper was quick in launching attacks on Britain’s regional

allies and in particular on Nuri, who it claimed conducted secret meetings with

Israeli diplomats in Turkey. 342

Belgrave left Bahrain on 22 June heading for Britain and the US. He did not

return to Bahrain until 26 September. 343 On the same day of Belgrave’s departure,

the HEC held a public meeting at the Mu’min Mosque. The event was attended by

approximately three thousand. The HEC was marking the first anniversary of the

death of the four demonstrators who had fallen during the attack on the fort in the

340 TNA, FO 1016/387, Bahrain Government Gazette Announcement, No. 113, 30 June 1955.
341 Sir Charles Dalrymple Belgrave’s Personal Diaries, 4 June 1955; and ‘Charles Gault, Residency’s
Monthly Report for July 1955’, in Political Diaries of the Persian Gulf, vol. 20 1955-1958, ed. R.L.
Jarman (London: 1990), 1-6 (3).
342 ‘Al-Qafilah Taseer’ [The Caravan Marches On], Al-Watan, 17 June 1955, 1.
343 Sir Charles Dalrymple Belgrave’s Personal Diaries, 22 June and 26 September 1955.

© Hamad E. Abdulla 114