Page 62 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

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General:—
Labour.—Cooly labour remained in good supply throughout the year. As already stated, it
was found increasingly difficult to retain or find good carpenters. There was also some loss of masons
who went to the mainland. To meet the difficulty over carpenters a general rise of As. 8 per day was
made in Jamad-Al-Thany ; otherwise wage rates remained the same.
The standard of masons’ work remains good. That of carpenters and joiners is far below what
it was a few years ago, while painting and plumbing is still bad, if judged by western standards.

The number of employees on the pay roll averaged between 700 and 750.
Plant.—During the year a new 10/7 concrete mixer was received from the United Kingdom.
The saw and planing machine were moved from the Government workshops at the close of
the year and set up in the Public Works Carpentry shop.
The motor grader, rock crusher and old concrete mixer all remained in service and were exten­
sively used.

•' *•—»- - <"•••»-«"" * »■*

year the contracts '°",racts *or tbe suPPty of coral stone and sand were let during the
the lenders w rad 7 e m°n'hS d“ra,i™ and adv«tised publicly for three weeks before
by Mat toth p wn rrUCti0n in pric“ was «*** The sand was delivered
'SkT ^ ‘he St°"e « ""■* Cith" »• intent or to points near

r/ln.,Ti“b'r prices remained Wgh and good quality hard woods were still difficult to obtain. A
considerable quant,ty of soft wood from Europe was purchased from local merchants.
the price is^tilTra^hiX1"6"'8 ^ Cement P“rChaSed fr0m the United Kingdom and India'

paint ironmoneerv dlT m the Umted Klngdom for sanitary ware, water pipes and fittings,
Lgdo^TtZTiorT Tw' f' M°S‘ °f theSe ®oods ba ia g°°d supply in the United
ingdom, at least for export, but often delivery is somewhat protracted.
Government decided d'<bcU*tT of getting good timber as well as the shortage of good carpenters, the
far no attempt has ve^be56 * ' j Wmd°WS and doors on new construction whenever possible. So
each buildine as reoni d ° t0 stocks of these> but instead orders have been placed for
of certain works Provided thaMh de'ayS haVC occurred with the ^suiting slowing down

actually spent during f Ud?et a,lowed for ar» expenditure of Rs. 18,25,000. The total
that neither of these fi*,6 ^lowing for stocks in hand, was Rs. 14,97,447. It should be noted
department and neitl mC U<3es the Main Water Scheme, which did not directly concern the
department, and neither is expenditure on Shaikh Hamad Bridge included.
The reduced expenditure was due to
(a) The progress of certain works being far less than was hoped. The chief example is
new work to “ roads ", for which Rs. 3.00,000 was allotted, but only Rs. 65.515
was spent owing to the breakdown of plant as previously mentioned.