Page 705 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

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1932

seen. The Resident took me aside and told me that the visit was supposed to be quite unofficial and the Minister was
incognito and nobody was supposed to know that he had come. D.G. took them through the Customs and then I took
them to the bazaar but found it mostly shut so we got into cars and drove out to Jafair and then round a bit and to Idari
and back by the gardens road to the town. I talked to the Minister a good deal and he asked a lot about Bahrain and
local politics and seemed to know quite a lot about it, he quoted some remarks I had made in a report some time ago
about the treatment of Persians and said the report had been handed to the Persian Foreign Minister in Teheran and had
annoyed him quite a lot. He was very pleasant and friendly and not at all official, in fact rather vague. Then we went
down the bazaar where they did some shopping, the Minister bought a pair of pearls and some Arab clothes, after
spending a long time in the bazaar we came back to the house for tea but found Parke paying a call which the P.R.
didnt seem to welcome. However he stayed on. After sunset they went back to the pier and on board to sail early next
day. I dont think many people, if any, realised who was with the party. I liked the Minister very much and was glad to
have the chance of meeting him. In the evening we went to a party at Major Holmes, some of the Oil people were
there, about 15 people altogether, afterwards we played Bridge. The drillers behave very well on these occasions and
are quite pleasant to meet. Rather a late party.

Monday 21st March 1932

Court till after two oclock. We are taking a case against one of the men who was most active in stirring up trouble
about the registration of deaths lately, he is administering the estate of some minor and it is claimed that he has mis
appropriated most of their property. In the afternoon we motored out to Seddad, the Shaikh's garden. I had not seen
him for some time as the roads have been so bad, we went out by Aali, the country looked very nice all green after the
rain and in some places there were pools on the desert with quite tall grass growing round them. It is wonderful the
way the ground turns green after rain in a few days. Found Abdulla bin Jabr at the garden and walked round it with
him, it is doing very well and they have lots of corn growing as well as hundreds of young date trees and lucerne. The
Shaikh arrived and we sat on the bench outside the little bath house, very cool and pleasant looking onto the garden.
The Shaikh although he likes gardens and especially dates knows nothing about them. Discussed a lot of business, the
dismissal of the Amir of Muharrak and the opening of the bazaars after sunset, which is a new thing and which the
Shaikh thinks very good as he says it will keep the people in the coffee shops not in other less desirable places.
Discussed the question of Parke who lately went to the Shaikh and offered to stay on at Rs 500 a month. The Shaikh
didnt seem keen on keeping him and said that I was to tell him that funds would not permit it at present but if it was
decided later he would be informed. Decided to give notice to the Agriculturist also. Motored back by the main road
which was quite dry and very good going on the part which the oil people have been working on. The Shaikh and I
discussed oil and, to my surprise, he didnt seem as excited about it as I had expected. After tea we went to the de
Greniers and played Bridge and then had Terry and Russell to dinner and played more Bridge till nearly midnight, too
much Bridge for on day.

Tuesday [22 March]

Had rheumatism in my shoulder so got my boy Hamood to massage it. He is wonderfully good at it, most professional
and very effective. They use massage for a great many things and are experts which is handy when one needs it. Busy
morning in the office, a lot of people came in to see me. I wrote to Parke officially telling him what the Shaikh had