Page 450 - Bahrain Gov annual reports(V)_Neat

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REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE, 1956.

Revenue. The total revenue in 1956 was 724 lakhs (approximately £5,430,000). This was
an increase of 128 lakhs over the previous year’s revenue. Oil produced 525i lakhs, customs
receipts amounted to 129 lakhs and the interest on the Reserve Fund was 29 J lakhs. Other
sources of income, including a contribution of 20 lakhs by His Highness from the Privy Purse
for developing education and public health services, produced about 41 lakhs.
The payments by the Bahrain Petroleum Company included the settlement of the 1955
account, about 70 lakhs, and payment at the rate of Rs. 10/ per ton on Bahrain oil exported
during the first half of 1956 from the date on which the new agreement came into force in 1955.
Under the new arrangement the Government received 50 per cent, of the net profits from all oil
refined in the Bahrain refinery instead of 50 per cent, of the profits of Bahrain oil and duty on
oil imported from Saudi Arabia through the pipe line.
Customs receipts showed an increase of 6£ lakhs over the previous year ; revenue from
other sources did not differ substantially from 1955.
Expenditure. The expenditure in 1956 was 542 lakhs. In almost all departments there
was an increase in the recurrent cost of administration. This was due to normal annual
increments, expansion and the contributions made by the Government to the new pension
scheme fund on account of past pensionable service. The Government contributes to the
pension fund about twice the amount which it previously contributed to the provident fund.
The customs department cost 3£ lakhs more than in 1955, thus raising the cost of collection
to over 10 per cent, of the receipts ; four years ago the cost was 5.2 per cent. Under the head­
ing “Law Courts” is included the advance payment to Dr. Sanhouri, the Egyptian jurist, who
was engaged to come to Bahrain in order to discuss and to assist in drafting a Criminal Code.
At the end of the year he had not yet put in an appearance and the people who had been so
anxious for him to come seemed to have lost all interest in him. Public Protection cost 28 $
lakhs in 1955 and 50 lakhs in 1956. In 1955 there were two British officers and 350 N.C.O’s
and men, at the end of 1956 there were about 600 N.C.O’s and men and more than a dozen
British officers. The pay of both officers and men had been increased and much new material
and equipment was purchased. Education cost 12 lakhs more than in 1955. This included
the cost of additional staff for new and enlarged schools. The higher cost of Public Health,
on which 8 lakhs more than in previous year was spent, was accounted for by the cost of running
the new T.B. Hospital, the anti-rat campaign and additional British and Asiatic medical staff.
The Labour Office did not exist until late in 1955. Unforeseen expenditure included donations l
to various causes, such as the British School in the Lebanon to which £10,000 was contributed,
the Danish Archaeological Expedition, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United
Nations, etc. Compensation amounting to Rs. 1,60,000 was paid to people who had lost
property in fires and to persons who were injured and the relations of those who were killed in
the March disturbances. The Government continued to pay for the treatment of a number of
T.B. cases at the Miraj Clinic, near Bombay, the cost of this was Rs. 1,47,000. This expend­
iture should, strictly, be debited against the medical budget but in the past it was met mostly by
public subscriptions and from the proceeds of the race meetings which have been held twice
yearly for many years. A subsidy of £5,000 was paid to Cable and Wireless when the public i
refused to accept the higher telephone rates which the Company found itself compelled to
charge. It was with the utmost reluctance that the Government finally agreed to subsidise the
telephone undertaking and only after all means of making an arrangement between the company
and the Arab subscribers had failed. Other payments included under “Unforeseen” were for
the Patent and Design Registration Department which had not been provided for in the budget,
for a village air survey to complete the set of aerial maps of Manama, Muharraq and their
environs, and the cost of furniture for new British officials.