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Taking on the issue of the Scouts from a legal standpoint, the Administration

issued a public ordinance derived from Britain’s 1936 Public Order Act. 783 The

ordinance was issued on 20 August banning the NUC’s Scouts movement. Following

the ban Al-Shamlan met with Colonel Anderson from the Residency to discuss the

matter. Gault specified, that according to Anderson’s account, the Acting Secretary

of the NUC ‘appeared to have no clear idea of what the correct definition of a Scout

was’. The Party in response issued a circular objecting to the proclamation. Gault

also noted that the NUC’s popularity seemed to have waned and that they were

short of money and unable to collect further donations from local merchants.

In Manama and other villages the support for the NUC was seen to have

decreased the most, mainly due to their continued call for strikes and its adverse

effect on general public welfare. 784 After the issue of the Administration’s public

ordinance on the Scouts movement, the organisation gradually faded away not to be

seen publicly again. 785

Three notable events occurred in August. The first was the arrival of six

British officers who joined Bahrain’s Police Force, increasing the total number of

British officers in the force to twelve. Additionally, without much publicity, two

Iraqi officers were transferred from Iraq to Bahrain. 786 The second was the Ruler’s

approval to appoint, on a temporary basis, an Adviser for Bahrain’s Public Relations

Department based on a recommendation by the Residency. The Ruler requested

783 ‘Bernard Burrows, Residency’s Report for the Month of August 1956’, in Political Diaries of the
Persian Gulf, vol. 20 1955-1958, ed. R.L. Jarman (London: 1990), 1-7 (2).
784 TNA, FO 371/120549, Gault to Burrows, 31 August 1956.
785 TNA, FO 371/120549, D. Blelloch’s Bahrain Monthly Intelligence Summary: September 1956, 6
October 1956.
786 ‘Bernard Burrows, Residency’s Report for the Month of July 1956’, in Political Diaries of the
Persian Gulf, vol. 20 1955-1958, ed. R.L. Jarman (London: 1990), 1-7 (2).

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