Page 149 - Records of Bahrain (4) (i)_Neat

Reaction to the reforms, 1923 137

Khalid and hie eons to commit the crime. It waB believed by
them, that Hamad would be afraid to take any action, in
•v..
which case such crimes might be repeated until Government
would be compelled to take action and Hamad would be held
responsible. Shaik Easa is bitterly chagrined at Hamad1s
attitude and is barely civil to him in public and openly
rudo to any of Hamad’s followers who visit him.
As regards the nuisance of the camels in Bahrain, this
is a matter in which I have constantly, during the past two
years, endeavoured &a to Induce Shaik Hamad to take action
to reduce the numbers of these creatures, which are utterly
useless in Bahrain.
Unfortunately these camels are all owned by the

Khalifeh family, and Shaikh Hamad himself is the worst
offender. The amount of damage they aa do is enormous. The
Tact that practically no vegetables are grown, and Bahrain
is dependent on importation from Qatif, may be almost
entirely ascribed to the damage done to gradens in the past.
Gardeners will not now ri6k the expense of cultivating. The
Qadhi has friendly written to me and tne Shaik, advising
them to get rid of them, or at least to take adequate steps
to keep them to thtfse parts of the island where no culti­
vation exists. When Shaik Hamad took over the conduct of
affairs, 1 made a personal appeal to him and suggested that,
out of friendship for me, and in order to make a good
impression on his becoming virtually Ruler, he should make
a clean sweep of all except a few camels which he might
retain for milk and quite a few for state purposes. He made
indefinite promises, but I regret does not appear to bo in
earnest, 1 have once or twice reminded him of this. I would
now propose to acquaint him of the receipt of your letter
under reply, and to say that you are of opinion that it is
incumbent on him to put a stop to this nuisance which is
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others, as well as a heavy drag on the allowances of A1
Khalifeh, who while spending money on such useless luxiries,
complain