Page 203 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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LOCAL INDUSTRIES.
Boat Building.
Apart from diving Bahrain possesses few local industries but boat building used at one time
to be a profitable trade which provided employment for a certain number of skilled shipwrights and
their apprentices and workmen. With the decrease in the number of diving dhows the boat building
business declined and three or four years ago there were numbers of hulls of big sailing dhows laid
up in the shipyards at Naim and at Muharraq awaiting purchasers. After the war had been going
on for some time Bahrain merchants realised that there were big profits to be made by carrying
cargoes in sailing dhows from India to the Persian Gulf ports and to Basra. The boats which had
been built as a speculation and which had laid idle on shore for many years, in some cases so long
that trees had grown around them, were sold for good prices, when no new boats remained old hulls
were reconditioned and decked in and all the available teakwood was used. Local boat owners
began to sell their craft to buyers from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia until the Government prohibited
the export of Bahrain boats in order that the pearl fleet should not be depleted.
The restrictions which were imposed on the export of timber from India seriously affected
the boat building trade, the lack of timber, principally teak, prevented the building of new boats
for which there would have been a ready sale if the boats had been available. The price of boats,
both large and small, rose steadily during the last two years and small jolly boats, suitable for crossing
to the mainland or carrying coral stone, which is cut from the bed of the sea at low tide, were sold
for prices from 300 per cent, to 400 per cent, above pre-war prices, but unfortunately the building
of new boats is now restricted owing to lack of timber.
Weaving.
The Shia Bahama living in a group of villages in the neighbourhood of Budeya,
where there is little date cultivation, have for many generations been engaged in weaving sail-cloth
and black shawls which are worn by the Bahama women. The work is done on primitive hand-looms
which are made entirely of wood. Cotton yarn is used and this and some of the dyes arc imported
from India. Other dyes arc made locally from vegetable and mineral sources. A little wool is
woven for making into bishts but most of the work is cotton. Before the war the weaving industry
was at a low ebb, there was not much demand for sail-cloth and locally made cotton stuffs were un­
saleable owing to the competition from cheap Japanese piece-goods which flooded the markets.
As the war went on the stocks of Japanese piece-goods were sold out or found their way to the Black
Market where they fetched high prices.
The weavers made the most of their opportunity. In addition to making sail-cloth they
produced new types of material which were used as head cloths, waist cloths and for women's clothes.
They introduced new patterns and colours into their work and they arc busier and more prosperous
today than they have been for many years. In every village the number of hand-looms has increased
and the shops in the bazaars display a variety of locally made cotton goods which in spite of the high
cost of yarn compare favourably in price with the Indian materials. Sail-cloth made in Bahrain is
in great demand in Saudi Arabia, where it is used for making tents and if production was increased
locally woven goods from Bahrain would find a ready market outside the State, as long as the present
conditions continue. If in the future the bazaars arc again flooded with Japanese piece-goods
then this small industry will fade away, it would not be so greatly affected by textiles from Britain
or from India as these are of a different grade to the local products.
Metal Workers.
The lack of imported manufactured tin-ware has given an impetus to the local tin-smiths who
are now producing a variety of utensils made from petrol tins, whose price is about six times what
it was before the war, and from scrap metal from parts of aeroplanes.
Garden implements, nails and rough tools have always been made in Bahrain. In the past
blacksmiths used charcoal in their forges. Charcoal as well as firewood, which is imported from
Persia, is now extremely expensive and partly owing to this the local blacksmiths have taken to
using oil-coke, a product which is produced by the Bahrain Petroleum Company, which is cheap
and as effective as charcoal.