Page 39 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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The Municipality continued to administer the fund provided by the Government for feeding
destitute old men and women and persons genuinely without means of support. Many hundreds of
these people received a small amount of food every morning at the gates of the Municipal garden.
The Council met twenty times during the year and the Sub-Committees carried out nineteen
inspections.
During the recent years the Manamah Municipality has increased in liveliness and activity.
Besides the successful administration of Municipal affairs, which is reflected in the outward appearance
of Manamah town, the Municipality has co-operated with the Government in many things which arc
not essentially Municipal such as A.R.P. work and rationing measures and in these and other matters
it has been of great value.
Moharraq Municipality. The opening of the Shaikh Hamad Bridge linking the towns of
Manamah and Moharraq brought before the eyes of public the noticeable difference between Municipal
activity in Manamah and in Moharraq. Although Moharraq is a newer administration with less income
than Manamah, its area is considerably smaller and it has fewer responsibilities and commitments.
It was decided that a more active and up-to-date Secretary was required to cope with the new problems
introduced into Moharraq by the opening of the bridge and recent developments around the aerodrome.
Shaikh Mohamed Saleh who worked in the Education Department before he held the post of Municipal
Secretary was transferred back to the Education Department and arrangements were made to appoint a
younger and more active official in his place. In Bahrain the success of Municipalities depends to a
far greater extent upon the work of the Municipal Secretaries than in other places where the members
of the council take a more active interest in public matters.
Municipal revenue during the year amounted to Rs. 49,500 and the expenditure was Rs. 57,000,
this included Rs. 11,500 which was spent upon widening the main street from the pier to the Ruler's
Moharraq residence. Unfortunately the widening of this important street has been carried out by
frequent nibbles and with much expense for small results. It is however now possible for two cars to
pass in most parts of the street.
Improvements to the Naturs office and the head of causeway were made by the Public Works
Department, the flagstaff was moved, a roundabout was constructed and the dangerous cross roads at
the entrance of the bazaar were made safer by a traffic island on which a traffic Policeman is stationed
during the day.
Nothing except routine work, town cleaning, road repairs, street lighting, etc. was accomplished
by the Municipality during the year.
After his accession His Highness Shaikh Salman appointed his brother Shaikh Abdulla bin
Hamad as President of the Moharraq Municipal Council, His Highness himself previously held this
post.

WAKF DEPARTMENTS.

The revenue of the Sunni Wakf Department was Rs. 28,000 of which the greater part was paid
to the beneficiaries of the wakfs. Some repairs were done to wakf property and a few gardens were
planted with young date palms. During the year there was a certain amount of agitation among some
of the Aalims serving in mosques whose property was administered by the Qadis. One or two well
known agitators interested themselves in attempts to stir up public feeling about the maladministra­
tion of wakf funds by the Sunni Qadis.
The administration of Shia wakfs continued satisfactorily in the hands of the elected Shia wakf
committee consisting of members representing groups of Shia villages throughout Bahrain. Towards
the end of the year the committee, which had sat for over four years, was dissolved and elections were
held throughout the country to appoint new members for the committee. The elections were not
completed before the end of the year. The revenue for the year amounted to Rs. 25,200.