Page 291 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

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REVIEW OF 1370
No events of outstanding importance occurred during the year and happen­
ings in neighbouring countries caused no repercussions in Bahrain. Trade
flourished, encouraged by the feeling of security in the country and by the facilities
afforded by the Government for trading, which are being improved each year.
Steady progress was made in the development of social services and public works.
After Saudi Arabia had obtained a “ 50-50 " agreement and negotiations were
being carried on for similar profit-sharing arrangements in Iraq and in Kuwait
it was felt that Bahrain, the oldest of the oil states in the Gulf, but the possessor
of the smallest oil field, should obtain royalty rates comparable to those elsewhere.
In June the Bahrain Petroleum Company commenced a voluntary monthly
payment of Rs. 5,00,000 (£37,500) as an interim arrangement to continue until
a further revision of the oil agreement was made. Customs collections again
exceeded the estimated amount, this year by Rs. 29J lakhs, and the total revenue
of the State amounted to Rs. 251A lakhs, approximately £1,886,000.
No sympathy was shown in Bahrain for the Persians in their dispute with
the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Persia’s attitude towards Bahrain became
more aggressive during the year and was manifested in the Persian Majlis and by
demonstrations in Teheran. These symptoms, however, were regarded by the
Bahrain Arabs more with ridicule than with anxiety.

The supply of labour in Bahrain continued to be affected by employment
conditions in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Men left the country to work abroad,
lured by the high wages but ignoring the fact that both conditions and the cost
of living elsewhere differed considerably from Bahrain. Unskilled labour was
replaced by Arabs from Oman and the Trucial Coast. The high salaries which
were paid abroad to partly educated youths, whose services, later, would have
been useful in their own country, caused a shortage of young clerical workers.
Bahrain has had schools since 1919 and more of the population have some degree
of education than in any of the other Gulf States. It is for this reason that so
many Bahrain Arabs can obtain clerical work abroad. During the year the
Government and the Bahrain Petroleum Company increased the wages of labourers
by approximately 25 per cent, other organisations took the same step. There
is a strong inclination to compare wages in Bahrain with those in Kuwait and in
Saudi Arabia but for Bahrain to raise the rate of wages to the level of the other
States would start a dangerous whirl of inflation.

In the Education Department the chief event of the year was the opening
in the Spring of the new boys’ hostel. The hostel, which is in fact a boarding
school, is the largest and most imposing building in Bahrain. Two new schools,
one a secondary school for boys, the other a school for girls, were nearing comple­
tion at the end of the year. Again there \Vas an increase in the number of boys
and girls attending schools but although the Government has for some time opened
one or two new schools each year there is still a demand for more schools.

Public health work progressed but medical facilities were strained to the
utmost during the summer which was the hottest and the most trying for many