Page 26 - Records of Bahrain (4) (i)_Neat

16 Records of Bahrain
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out a gold watch from your pocket and presented it to this
whimpering little boy and another member of the Al-Khalifa,
not to be outdone in generosity gave him £5 and I have no
doubt that the assembly went out saying what noble-hearted
open-handed gentlemen you were, It sounds like a story from
the Arabian Nights or the spacious days of Haroun al Rashid.
Now I tell you 0 Hamad: that your conduct on kha

this occasion was absolutely rotten, It was bad for the boy
himself, it was bad for the other boys and if you go on on
such principles you will not, 0 Hamad: last six months.
Thirty years have I worked with Hakims great and small and
yet never have I known or met the Hamim who was not in need
of money for public needs. The Political Agent is hard put
to it for want of money, I am cramped for lack of funds,

Persia and Iraq and France are on the verge of bankruptcy
and Germany has fallen over the precepice. The Government
of India is reducing its establishments and dismissing its
servants and the Government of London is doing likewise and
who are you 0 Hamad: that you should be better than they ?
You have rich and ample revenues but I shall be greatly
suprised to learn that they amount to as much as Rs. 1 per
month per
/head of the population of these Islands: and yet, all these

men, women and children look to you 0 Hamad: for their moral
uplift, sanitation and progress. And how much uplift, san­
itation and progress are you going to effect for Rs. 1 per
head per month and how much will be left over for giving
gold watches and five pound notes to little whimpering boys
for a term's work, or, for that matter, for motor cars or
motor boats for the members of the Al-Khalifa ? In all

private expenditure, 0 Hamad: you must be a miser and it is
only when you entertain projects that will bring money out
of money and projects for the general advancement of your
people that you must spend money with both hands.