CITADEL OF OIL

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 November 1938, Page 5

CITADEL OF OIL

WESTERN WAYS IN BAHREIN. The news that oil has been found on the mainland opposite Bahrein has aroused some interest in the Persian Gulf, where its discovery has well oiled the wheels of progress. If it if? found in Koweif. Muscat, and on the Trucial coast it. will (the Bahrein correspondent of ‘The Times’ says) bring changes profitable socially and commercially. but from an aesthetic point of view to be regretted by many. Ten years ago the Persian Gulf was quiet, and prosperous, the pearl industry was flourishing, and trade in general was not. disturbed by the erratic fluctuations in prices of Japanese goods. There was only a faint smell of oil in the air. Then came the depression in Europe and America during 1931-32, which coincided with the increased production of Japanese cultuied pearls and caused the severest slump that the pearl market has ever known and a period of acute poverty in the Persian Gulf. All activity requiring the expenditure of money ceased until three years ago, when oil was discovered in Bahrein, and that country became suddenly more prosperous than it had ever been.

Developments during the last 1.0 years, such as improved travel facilities, broadcasting, and the results of prosperity which money from oil has brought, have caused great changes in the outlook of the people. These changes are more noticeable in Bahrein than anywhere else. The transfer of the Empire air route from the Persian side io the Arab coast in 1931 and the improvement in steamer services between Bahrein, Iraq, and India have made it easier for Arabs to travel and io visit other parts of the world. Sheikhs, pearly dealers, and" Arab merchants are now frequent air passengers between Bahrein, India, Egypt, and Europe. It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of broadcasting; in conn trios where most, of the population is illiterate the loud-speaker is far more powerful than the Press. Since the introduction of wireless the Arabs have taken a keen interest in foreign politics and in news about countries which a few years ago many of them had never heard of. Most well-to-do Arabs own a wireless set, and loud-speakers are used in coffee shops. In Bahrein the recently-inaugurated Arabic broadcasting from London has been received with interest and enthusiasm, and the news, because it comes from London, is regarded as being accurate. It is not only news and music which are popular. Recently an English woman calling on an Arab woman discovered her hostess surrounded by servants, sugar, and oranges, and was told by her hostess that she was making marmalade according to a recipe she had heard on the radio. '

DREAMS OF RICHES. The rapid development of the oil field and refinery, which has made Bahrein one of the leading oil producing countries in the world, has brought wealth to the State and prosperity to the people. The interest being taken by oil companies in other States in the Gulf has caused dreams of riches to their people and rulers and financial profit, where concessions have actually been negotiated: sometimes the. granting of concessions lias created difficult situations for weak rulers whose subjects imagine that more money has been received than is actually paid. To-day the Trucial Coast, once called the pirate coast, might well be renamed the Oil Coast. The Arabs in Oman and the south of the Gulf are still wild and picturesque in appearance, but their general outlook is changing. Within a year or two Bahrein has been transformed from a. quiet little Arab State depending on the pearling industry into the headquarters of a great modern commercial enterprise employing hundreds of Englishmen and Americans. The advantages of this sudden prosperity are, but. the disadvantages ijre not. apparent to rhe casual observer.

The oil company certainly provides regular employment for thousands of Arabs who used to earn a precarious living by diving for a few months diming the year. Trade in the bazaars is flourishing, the standard of living lum improved, and the value of land imincreased. The Government can now afford to spend money on public health services, agriculture, education, and public work’s. Bahrein has the opportunity of becoming within a few years a model State. But prosperity has caused an upheaval in the relative importance of classes. The pearl industix is still suffering from depression, and having lost their money the pearl magnates'have lost their influence. Men who a few vears ago. were petty traders and shopkeepers have now become more important.

The money which the Arabs earn more easily than in the past they spend more quickly. The picturesque Arab dress is being supplanted by European clothes, especially on the younger men. the famous white donkeys of Bahrein are crowded off the roads, wealthy young Arabs use cars and have discarded horses, which are now rarely seen except on a few public occasions. Cinemas are springing up. and the Manamall bazaar is acquiring an atmossphere slightly reminiscent of the Monsky in Cairo. The gazelles who used to roam uninterruptedly have retired as far as possible from the centre of the island, where the Bahrein Petroleum Company has built a town of mod ern air-cooled bungalows, each one with n 1 n n f V ‘ G I‘rrht o-n~ 1- ■*-» z* - ’ 1

water laid on, on what used to be virgin desert. , His Highness. Sheikh Sir Hamad bin Isa Alkhalifah, the Ruler of Bahrein. and the members of the ruling family show less outward signs of . change than many of their people. They invariably wear Arab dress, which adds colour and dignity io the scene when they appear cm Slate occasions in their gorgeous embroidered robes, carrying swords in golden pearl-encrusted scabbards. followed by a- retinue of household servants and retainers wearing long, scarlet, orange, and vermilion • coats, each man with a -silver dagger . in his heli. Although many of the sheikhs, in addition to the ruler* hhv.6t visited Europe, they still wear the