Page 292 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

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years. It became evident that more hospitals were required and in the budget
for 1371 provision has been made to start building a new maternity hospital.

There were noticeable improvements in the town of Manamah. By the
end of the year all the main roads and some of the secondary roads had been
metalled and surfaced and pavements had been laid down along many of the streets,
which improved the general appearance and reduced the hazards of traffic accidents.
Many new houses and shops were built by private enterprise, some of the houses
being of modern but aisthetically unpleasing design. The Government in ils
buildings tries to follow the old established local style but many of the Arabs
prefer to put up houses which are definitely western in appearance.

The Manamah town water supply and the electric supply functioned
satisfactorily throughout the year in spite of the heavy demands which were made
on these services during the hot weather. There was a great increase in applica­
tions for electricity both for houses and shops, in Manamah and in Muharraq, and
at the end of the year many hundreds of applications had been received.
Applications were dealt with in the order in which they were received except in
certain areas where new cables were laid down. The Muharraq Municipality,
which is somewhat resentful of receiving less attention from the Government than
Manamah, requested the Government to extend to it the Manamah town water
supply but the quantity of water in Manamah is not at present adequate to supply
the two towns. Muharraq is not without water but it has no piped system.

The state of public security remained at its usual high level and there were
few crimes of any importance. One murder was sub judice at the end of the year,
the number of murders in Bahrain, which has a population of 110,000, averages
about one in every three years and the number of crimes of all types which are
reported to the Police varies little each year. Much of the credit for the state of
things is due to the Police but the people of Bahrain are, naturally, a quiet and law-
abiding race.
The scheme for building a deep water pier off Manamah was temporarily
abandoned in favour of a more sheltered site about two miles south-east of the
town. The second scheme would entail the dredging of a channel from deep
water and the construction of a pier about one mile in length. Arrangements
were made with a British Company to drill test holes along the course of the channel
in order to ascertain whether dredging could be carried out.

C. DALRYMPLE BELGRAVE, c.b.e..
Adviser to the Bahrain Government.

THE DIVING INDUSTRY
The diving season of the 1951 summer, which started after the month of Ramadhan 1370, was
still in progress at the end of the year so no precise estimate of the season’s results can be made. All
reports indicate that the catch was smaller than last year, few important pearls were found but the
market was active and prices as high, and in the case of some grades of pearls higher, than in 1369’
There was a big demand for pearls for Saudi Aiabia where they have become very fashionable and
are used greatly, without discrimination, in the form of long necklaces and head ornaments made of