Page 59 - Personal Column (Charles Belgrave)_Neat

would carry the opium to Europe or America or the Far East. Sometimes
the plans miscarried and the opium had to be hidden in Bahrain until the
ship was in port. The gang owned cars and launches and they had build­
ings in which the opium could be hidden, but there was always danger
when they had to move it from one place to another. The police caught
several consignments of opium, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds,
and finally, after one successful haul, when some of the gang were caught
Ten
on board a ship with the opium in a dhow alongside, the principal men
who were operating the racket were arrested. They were tried and sen­
tenced to long terms of imprisonment. There was no co-operation from
the public in our attempts to stop the opium trade; the Bahrainis regarded The guests arc met, die feast is set:
May’st hear the merry din.
our efforts as unnecessary interference by the Government in a trade
The Ancient Mariner. Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 1772-1834
which brought much money to Bahrain. Their view was that as it was
not used by Bahrainis there was no reason to bother about it. What hap­
pened eventually to the people in other countries who smoked the opium
isits from V.I.P.s were not, perhaps fortunately, so frequent
was of no interest to the Bahrain Arabs.
twenty years ago as they arc today when Members of Parliament
For some time the project of having a British Naval Base in Bahrain
and journalists, after spending two days in Bahrain, return home
had been under discussion. I had to attend innumerable meetings with the
as experts on the problems of the Persian Gulf. Until 1937 most of the
Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf, known as ‘Snopgie’, who was at that
peopie"who came were liigh officials of the Government of India or senior
time Captain J. V. Creagh, and with the Resident and Political Agent and
officers of the Royal Navy or the Royal Air Force, with whom the Shaikh
with the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Squadron, who paid visits to
exchanged calls and usually invited to dinner. Conversations on these
Bahrain. Finally, with the Shaikh’s approval, it was decided that the base
occasions were stilted and there was a sameness about them. The usual
should be at Jufair, on the coast about three miles south of Manama. The
subjects were the climate in Europe, the guest’s journey to Bahrain and
project was to be a top secret. Some of the land on the site was privately
sometimes a little talk about horses or hawks; if the guest introduced
owned, so I had to negotiate its purchase by the Government without
politics he drew a blank. Once when the Shaikh and I were discussing
people knowing why it was required. The transaction took some time to
conversations with visitors he said to me, ‘Those are suitable matters to
* complete, but in April 1935 the inhabitants of Manama learned from the speak of to people who we do not know well, who come to see us. I
B.B.C. that there was to be a British Naval Base in Bahrain. Although
often felt that the Shaikh did not do himself justice at these visits as he
several people besides the Shaikh and I knew about the scheme the secret
had been well kept and there was some indignation, especially among the could talk interestingly and amusingly to people he knew well. But
sometimes the barriers were lowered. Once I took a Roman Catholic
Europeans, at hearing such an important piece of news about Bahrain
i Bishop to call on Shaikh Hamed; he was a venerable Italian with a long
from outside sources.
white beard, beautifully dressed for the occasion. He and the Shaikh got
I was asked by the British to write a note on the local reactions to the
on very well together as the Bishop talked some Arabic. They discovered
news about the base. This I found difficult as none of the Arabs showed
the least interest in the matter. Almost the only comment I heard was that they were the same age. The Shaikh asked the Bishop how many
from a man who said, ‘The price of eggs will surely go up.’ I asked him children he had and then commiserated with him on the fact that Catholic
what eggs had to do with the Naval Base. ‘When English men-of-war bishops were not permitted to marry; later he said to the Bishop: ‘What
are here, he said, they buy up all the eggs and we get a very high price beautiful te'eth you have. Where did you get them?* I thought at once of
for them. If there is a base and the Navy is always here they will never Red Riding Hood. It was revealed that the teeth came from Milan,
stop buying eggs.’ It was quite true; the price of eggs did go up. and the Shaikh and the Bishop had a long conversation about the price
and the difficulties of ‘dentures’.
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V*.