Page 294 - Records of Bahrain (6)_Neat

282 Records of Bahrain

PERSONAL.
Copy of letter No.758-22/9A dated 12.2.'48 from C.D.
Belgrave, Esq., C.B.E., Adviser to the Bahrain Govern­
ment, to the Political Agent, Bahrain.
/)oV
Referring to your No.C/133 dated 25th January, 1948,
I had a long talk with His Highness on the subject of tho
Civil List and the Increases and changes Which were made
while I was away. His Highness did not appreciate my bring­
ing up the subject and would not budge an inch. He produced
tho following arguments.
2. (a) The increases were made with the knowledge of
Galloway who, he said, was aware of all that was done. He
also said that a letter was written to the political Agent
by the Acting Adviser, Smith, in which it was clearly stated
that some payments previously made by His Highness were to
be met from State funds not from the Privy purse. I have
seen the letter and tho wording of it is perhaps liable to
cause a misunderstanding though if the letter is studied
carefully the fact emerges that payments made by His High­
ness were to be met in future by the State.
(b) The arrangement about oil royalties, made when
Loch was political Agent, was discussed in tho prosence of
Loch, Shaikhs Mohamed, Abdullah and Shaikh Salman and myself
and it was agreed that 1/3 of the royalty was to be paid to
the Ruler and one third was to be for the Ruling Family, the
other third was to be spent on the State. I told His High­
ness that this was incorrect. He continued to say that the
original arrangement was as he stated.
(c) If he is the Ruler of Bahrain he has the right
to allocate the revenue to whatever purpose he wishes, if he
is restricted in financial matters he is not the real ruler
of the State but merely the chief of the Khalifah Family with
control over one third of the oil royalty. This, 'he regards,
as an impossible pcua position.
3. His Highness appeared to be willing to discuss the
matter with you and the Resident, he said that the matter
should either be discussed or should be the subject of an
exchange of letters. He also said that if in future he had
not a free hand with the revenue he would refuse to approve
and sign any budget. He also mentioned that in other SfctmtM*
States in the Gulf the Rulers were not questioned about the
manner in which they disposed of the revenue, he quoted
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
4. Our talk lasted for over two hours and His Highness
was extremely angry. I think that this matter should bo dis­
cussed as soon as possible but that before any discussion
inflk takes place the records which you have regarding the
disposal of the oil royalty should be looked into. I am
quite certain, as I told His Highness, that it was agreed
that the Ruler should receive one third of the royalty and
that two thirds should be utilised on tho State. Another
point which he stressed was that tho Civil List should depend
upon the revenue of the State, other than tho oil royalty.
Before oil produced any revenue the State had a maximum
income of 13 lakhs per annum, now it has an income of twice
this amount so therefore, he contended, the Civil List
should be allowed to increase, in proportion to the revenue
(other than from oil).