Page 340 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

5G
proved of great value to the Land Department especially when a survey was made of the fish traps
around the coast. Rules were laid down to prevent people from setting up new fish traps without
permission from the Government and it was also established that the ownership of areas in the sea or
on the shore around the sites of fish traps did not entitle the owners to reclaim the sea and to convert
the sites into land for buildings.

In 1358 the department was occupied with the valuation of the property of . Persians living in
Bahrain who according to the nationality law which came into force in that year were compelled to
sell any property which they owned other than the houses which they occupied and their places of
trade, those who did not wish to part with their property became Bahrain subjects. The stone beacons
on the shoals and islands belonging to Bahrain were repaired and numbered in 1358 as it was found
that many of the original beacons had become ruined. During the year several young Bahrain Arabs
were sent to Calcutta to take a course in survey work with the Indian Survey Department.

In *359 (*94°) a census of the population was made, this was the first time that such a thing
had ever been done in Bahrain. In the towns of Manama and Muharraq it was not regarded with
any disfavour but it took many months of patient propaganda to persuade the people of the villages
that the Government had no ulterior motive in counting the population ; the villagers suspected the
Government of wishing to impose a head tax, of introducing conscription, of setting up village muni­
cipalities, of making it illegal for women to give birth to children except in a Government hospital,
and numerous other improbable objects which they regarded as objectionable. The greater part
of the work of the census was carried out under the supervision of the Land Department with the
co-operation of the municipal authorities. The 1940 census proved of very great value when the time
came for rationing to be introduced. The figure of the total population at the time of the census
was 90,000 but in 1365 (1946) over 104,000 persons were registered as being entitled to draw rations.

r n an *mPortant proclamation was issued on the subject of the right of ownership of
Government land by long occupation, it was laid down that no such claim would be accepted unless
Wn°fCUP^tv.C*°UW PTC that hC had possessed the ^nd. continuously from the year 1336. It had
in Man0” \ °* *ore'&ners’ usuaUy Persians and Hassawis, had acquired valuable property
the lanTfo^more thin te^y !"fa*fag witnesses to the courts to give evidence that they had occupied

for two or three years ^^udd^^’h°USe pr°perty and buildin6 sites, which had been gradually rising
for theboomf ^inCreaSed in 1361 ^ the case of date gardens the reason
neighbourine countr> i* J **teS due to the restrictions on the export of dates to Bahrain from
«=s uysrr- ■—•
little else into which they could
was
1365*f'xe»461>d*LlhT I™" SmuggHng and Black Market transactions. From 1361 till
perty wal l red hv * T™* changed hands and a large proportion of this pro-
passed an order farhM/t; n ens# though at very advantageous prices, the Government
XSXSSSS 7 7 n SUbjeCt t0 Sel1 hiS dweUi"e h0-e t0 a foreigner and the Ruler
Family from selling any pan rft l^Khal^ha '“'fT ^ irrCSponsible members of the RuUng
to buy other property ofequal or areat H i ~ pr0perty un,ess bV s0 doinfi they were cnabled
Abdulla bin Isa. also deak with tte estate?!^ '0mmittee- which is Presidcd over bV Shaikh
family custom have never been subject °f.dcceascd members of the family which according to
which comprise a large proportion oHhe nr 7- * * In prindple ‘h* ,amily eS,a‘“'
Ruler on the death of LTZZZTZT? \ ^ gardcnS' *° ^
tributed by the Ruler to the heirs of the d l Wh° dS pr°pCr‘y' The ProPcrty is then Kdis‘
is responsible for providing for allme 'b rf rTl °r.t0 °ther ™mbers of ,he famiIy- but ,he RU'"
property. °* ^ami y wbo do not enjoy incomes from the ancestral