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that the candidate for the position would be employed part-time for two months.

The candidate chosen for the position was William Buchan. 787 Buchan had worked

previously as a public relations consultant and was the brother of Lord

Tweedamuir. 788 The third was the Bahraini Government’s choice of selecting JW

Cummins to review the Administration’s work and departments. Cummins had

previously reviewed the work of the Qatari Government. He was due to arrive in

Bahrain later in 1956. 789

For its part, in August, the NUC sent a new batch of students to further their

studies in Egypt. The Egyptians awarded about thirteen Bahraini students

scholarships. 790 According to Belgrave, the families of those who were sent to Egypt

complained to him later that, although their children received free education there

and their travel fares were covered by the NUC, they were not assisted financially

with monthly or daily allowances. 791

The Suez Canal Conference concluded in London on 23 August with the

agreement of eighteen participating states (out of the original twenty-two) to send a

delegation in September to meet with Nasser. The delegation was to be headed by

the Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Menzies. 792 The Conference also concluded

with a proposal to establish an international authority for the Canal. The authority

would run the Canal’s operations, ensure the passage of ships through the Canal in

787 TNA, FO 371/120556, Burrows to FO, 24 August 1956.
788 TNA, FO 371/120556, G.C. Moberly, at FO to Residency, 26 October 1956.
789 TNA, FO 371/120549, Gault to Burrows, 31 August 1956.
790 ‘Bernard Burrows, Residency’s Monthly Diary: August 1956’, in Political Diaries of the Persian Gulf,
vol. 20 1955-1958, ed. R.L. Jarman (London: 1990), 1-7 (2).
791 Belgrave, Personal Column, 228.
792 ‘Suez Committee Makes the First Move: Mr. Menzies’s Call on the Egyptian Ambassador’, The
Times, 25 August 1956, 6; see also The Eden-Eisenhower Correspondence, 1955-1957, Boyle, ‘The Suez
Crisis and Eden’s Resignation’, 149-53 (150).

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