Page 704 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

702

1932

No court as I have altered my programme and am now having courts on Monday Saturday and Sundays. A very busy
morning in the office, I had a long talk with Steele about electric affairs and also saw Ham from the Bank and the head
of the Telegraph Company as well as a lot of local people and also managed to get up to the Shia school which I had
not visited for a long time. They seemed to be getting on very well there and the little boys seemed very bright and
looked fairly clean. I very much enjoyed hearing them at their lessons. In the afternoon we went a long drive along the
south coast with two members of the Wakf council to see some gardens, it was a lovely day and very pleasant out. We
went to a place I had never visited before and I held a sort of meeting at which the whole population seemed to appear.
Had dinner with Major Holmes and played Bridge, Russell made the fourth. In the evening it became very stormy and
rained very heavily in the night.

Friday 18th March 1932

Bank in the morning. The town is very muddy and wet after the heavy rain. Motored in the afternoon and then played
Bridge at the Fort. I was to have gone out to see the Shaikh but they sent in to say that the road was under water and
dangerous so I didnt go out. The rain has made the garden look very nice, all the trees are coming out and there is a
lovely mixture of all sorts of different greens and five different sorts of oleander starting to flower, white, deep red and
pink and some single and some double, quite a picture. They are very like rhododendrons but grow much bigger.
There is no house in Bahrain that has a garden right below the windows and green almost all round it so that where
ever one looks out one sees green, it makes such a difference to the place and makes one feel cooler though actually it
doesnt probably make any difference.

Saturday 19th [March]
Court. Got a message in the morning from the Resident saying that he and the Senior Naval Officer were coming
ashore tomorrow afternoon for a short time. Shaikh Sulman was very intrigued and decided that it was something to do
with the Persian question, the Persian Govt has ordered six sloops from Italy, two big and four little ones and the
Shaikhs of Bahrain and Kuwait and the Sultan of Muscat have asked that these Persian ships should not visit their ports
without the first being informed by the Resident. I hear that Persia has not yet paid for them so I dont suppose they
will be out here for some months. The biggest of the sloops is, I believe, to be called "The Bahrain" as a gesture. It
will be rather amusing when they come here. I believe the idea is that every time a Persian ship comes two British
sloops will come at the same time to see that there is no trouble. The Persian Government far from having given up the
Bahrain claim is as active about it as ever. Motored in the afternoon and dined at the de Greniers, they had what they
called a musical evening, rather a boring performance as it consisted of very bad singing and silly games, if they had
just let Terry play I should have liked it, three of the naval men were there and another was expected but got left on
board by mistake. One of them said that he had heard that the British Minister in Persia was with the Resident.

Sunday [20 March]

Court. Went along to the Customs in the afternoon and met the Resident and the S.N.O. Captain Crabbe, with them
was the Minister, a man called Hoare, a very pleasant person. He seemed very interested in seeing all there was to be