Page 222 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (I)_Neat

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resented by landlords who, with some justification, complained

thet tenants should take’; the good years with the bed
veers; if the crop hed been extra heavy they would not have
paid higher rent so it was unfair that they, the landlords,

should be made to suffer, In a few cases the assessors found
thet they crops exceeded in value the amount of the leases
but on the whole the crops did not produce sufficient to cover
the leases.

In Bahrain it is usually found that there are more people
wishing to lease gardens then there are gardens available, so
the leases are auctioned and frequently the Bahama take a gar­

den for more than it is really worth with the result that they
ere generally unable to pay the whole rent but in almost all
cases the landlord waives some percentage of the amount, or if
the tenant leases it again for another two years, his back

rent is added to the new lease, which is an unsatisfactory
system. The payments are made partly in cash and pertly in

kind, usually at the time of the date crop and occasionally if
they are not paid the tenant disposes of the crop and declares
that he has no money. In the case of one garden belonging to
n. E. Shaikh Earned the tenant, a very old man owed Ks 16,000/-
*
and eventually paid nothing. Ee was made bankrupt and his
belongings were sold but they only yeeeived realised a few hun­
dred rupees, in another case 8 tenant of Shaikh'llohamed bin

Isa failed to pay an accumulated lease of about Rs 8000/- and
the landlord lost the whole amount. It is incidents such as
these which have provoked in the past retaliatory attacks by
landlords on their tenants.

Since the introduction, about eight years ago, of govern­
ment leases of over I»s 50/- per annum, and which extend for two
years, the system has greatly improved.

The prospect of the next date harvest is very good and