Page 787 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

Tuesday [6th June]

Meeting of Manama municipality. Dull meeting, they decided to go back on the former decision that house owners,
not the tenants, are responsible for paying house taxes. A very great pity, most of the members are property owners
& very unpublic spirited. Looked at the site of new vegetable market. Tennis at Mission - awful - & Bridge at the
Russells.

Wednesday 7th [June]

Meeting of the Wakf Department, took up most of the morning. Decided to issue a proclamation giving results of the
audit & financial position for the year. A good move, it will prevent criticism. Tennis tea as usual but not many
people playing. Quite rough still & nice & cool.

Thursday [8th June]

Shaikh Abdulla came to see me before breakfast, he talked about Sh Hamed moving the vegetable market, his old
mother, old Isa's widow, is being tiresome about it. After breakfast M & I & the Khan Bakadur & Chief of Police went
in a launch to Muharraq, it was rough & rather bouncing in the boat. Sh Mohammed lent us his very handsome car &
we drove to the aerodrome & found the westbound machine already in. They had a very bad time coming up as it
was so windy & extremely bumpy. We went early to meet the first plane in order to meet M's cousin Loraine who is a
pilot, son of Ida by the first husband. This young man took his mother's name when she divorced the husband. He
seemed nice, very tall & fair with a decided look of the family. We talked to him during the intervals when he was not
busy. Then lots of other people arrived to meet Prior on his way to India, all the English people and a number of
leading Arabs, Sh Sulman, Kanoo & many more. Prior looked very well & very smart but only stayed half an hour
while they refueled. Everyone very glad to see him & some of the women were very gushing, both Mrs Steele & Mrs
de Grenier are sentimental about him. I was very glad to see him. Then we all came back. The new road is a great
improvement & one can land there now at low water & get onto the causeway. It is nearly done. Drove to Senian
after tea, the oranges are ripening well. After dinner everyone went to the play at the school which was awfully
good. First a Tragedy about the Arabs in Spain & then an adaptation of Molire's "Miser" which was really awfully
amusing & we all roared with laughter. The boy who took the main part was wonderful, a natural comedian. The
boys all knew their parts perfectly & it was very well put on. We had electric footlights & some quite good scenery
painted in Beyrout. It was a huge success & the audience were most appreciative. All the Shaikhs were there and
Shaikha Ayesha & some Arab ladies so all the women sat upstairs. The stage was in the courtyard of the girls school
and there were about 500 people present & quite a traffic block afterwards with all the cars going off. Very windy so
cool at the show.

Friday 9th June