Page 780 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

Saturday 13th May

Court. Holmes came round in the morning. He had been out to see the Shaikh & talked over the offer again and had
raised it to 5 lacs, a £37,000 of which part was to be loan on our future Royalties and according to Holmes the Shaikh
was agreeable & arranged to come in tomorrow to see me & discuss it. Holmes brought a map of Bahrain in which
the Coy had made the interesting discovery that the total area of the island was only about 140,000 square acres not
218,000 as we previously thought. This rather alters the whole matter. Hot day, after tea we motored to Haseini to
get some water as our supply of Bombay water ran out. Called on Holmes in the evening, spoke about a job in the
Coy. Mrs Holmes is going home but he is going to Kuwait only. Dinner at the Steeles, a pretty awful entertainment
with a very dull card game afterwards. A lot of my police are ill, mostly malaria. There is a great deal of fever about
just now.

Sunday 14th [May]

Court, but much delayed as the Shaikh and Sh Abdulla came in. We had a long interview with Holmes. The Shaikh
was very difficult & Sulman & I & Abdulla had a trying time, he was very childish over the whole affair and would not
allow that the remaining area was considerably less than half the amount we had supposed. He saw the map but
wouldn't look at it. Eventually he said that he ought to get a definite proportion of the royalty and he suggested 1/3
for his privy purse and wanted Holmes to put this into the Agreement, but Holmes said, naturally, that it was nothing
to do with him. We talked of it for a couple of hours and everyone in turn got annoyed but eventually the Shaikh
agreed that Holmes could send a letter to the P.A. saying that the Shaikh would agree to consider granting the extra
area on the terms suggested. I think myself that they are quite good and I am sure we cannot get better terms
elsewhere, however we don't yet know what the Resident will think of the matter. I didnt get my breakfast till 10.30!
Went to Senian after tea to see how some plants were getting on, I put in a sort of creeper all round the garden,
rather an experiment. Hot day. Dined with the Holmes. I am sorry they are going, she is a very nice woman & we
shall miss them both.

Monday 15th [May]

Cool day, shamaal wind. Fort, still a lot of men ill. Had the doctor up and inspected the lines very thoroughly.
Holmes left by the boat. I went up to see him in the morning & we took a tracing of a very fine map which his people
have made, then I returned to the Court. Motored out along the Rafaa road in evening, met a lot of cars, a Jewish
wedding party, we disapprove of the bride & the bridegroom, the former a wireless clerk belonging to I. Airways, the
latter looks no better than she should be. We thought they were all rather drunk as their cars drove zig zag along the
roads.

Tuesday [16 May]