Page 335 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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It was not made compulsory that estates should be administered by the department and action
was only taken on the request of the heirs. In the beginning it was intended that only estates in
which there were minors should be dealt with but very soon heirs who were not minors requested the
department to administer estates. In the first year 43 estates were dealt with whose value was
Rs. 68,000, after nine years the department had taken over 185 estate cases and was dealing with
funds amounting to over Rs. 12,53,000.
The progress of this department has been steady though after it had been in existence for three
years the Qadis made another determined effort to overthrow it by producing a document which was
written fourteen years before by His Highness Shaikh Hamad, stating that the control of estates should
always be a matter for the Shara Qadis to deal with. This point of view was not accepted by the
Government. Today the only people who are opponents of the Minors’ Department are persons who
hold estates in trust for minors and any active opposition on their part places them in a somewhat
invidious position.
When His Highness Shaikh Hamad died in 1361 and was succeeded by His Highness Shaikh
Sulman the latter retired from the post of President of the Minors’ Committee and appointed in his
stead his brother Shaikh Daij bin Hamad. At the same time a new Committee was formed in place
of the original members who had served for about four years. As the work of the department
increased it became necessary to augment the staff, which continued to be paid for out of Government
funds. The keeping of accounts for every estate, payment of allowances to between 300 and 400
persons, collection of rents and supervision of property entailed considerable clerical work.
Funds belonging to minors under the administration of the department were not allowed to
remain idle. In some cases money was invested in house property, new buildings were erected, for
letting, as, for example the new Primary School in Manamah, and money was let out on loan at inter­
est to members of the public secured by mortgages on property or on gold. As the interest charged on
the loans was considerably lower than the rate demanded by local money-lenders, who normally
expect a return of 20%, these loans earned good returns but towards the end of the war loans were not
in demand owing to the amount of money that was in circulation in Bahrain.
The Minors’ Department has from the beginning been an institution which is conducted by the
Arabs themselves through a Committee of Sunnis and Shias who have worked together in harmony
for the common good without sectarial disagreements. It owes much of its success to His Highness
Shaikh Sulman’s direction of its affairs in its early years and to the active interest which he continues
to take in its work.
Year 1365.—During 1365 the department administered 16 new estates whose total value
amounted to approximately 5J lakhs. The total number of gardens and premises under the control
of the department was, at the end of the year, 388. Rent collections totalled Rs. 1,03,165 which in­
cluded an advance by the Government to the department of Rs. 37,000 on account of the rent of one
of the Manamah school buildings which occupied a property under the administration of the depart­
ment. With this advance an additional floor was built on the school buildings which was taken over
by the Education Department to accommodate the Secondary School.
;
Fewer loans were advanced to the public during the year and the question of revising the rates
of interest on loans from the department was under consideration of the majlis at the end of 1365.

ACCOUNTS FOR 1365
Revenue. Expenditure.
Rs. a. p. Rs. a. p.
Proceeds of 16 estates 5,46,655 8 0 Payments to minors 67,896 4 o
Rent collections 1,03,145 10 9 Purchase of property 51.853 o o
Payment of loans .. 1,36,874 14 6 Upkeep of property .. 68,325 3 0
Interest on loans .. 13.786 8 0 Cash payments 3.23.491 9 o
By sale of property 63.684 13 4 Loans........................ 2,22,435 12 0
Debts recovered 27.390 0 5 Balance 5.19.061 3 5
Balance from 1364 3.61,525 8 5
Rs. 12,53,062 15 5 Rs. 12,53,062 15 5