The file contains correspondence related to the Iranian Government’s order known as the Tehran order, on treating people arriving at Persian ports from Bahrain, Muscat, Dubai and Oman as Persian subjects. The file also includes petitions raised by Muscat subjects whose passports were seized by the Iranian Customs.The main correspondents in the file are the British Residency and Consulate General, Bushire; the Secretary of State for India, London; His Majesty’s Minister, Tehran; the Political Agency, Muscat and the Government of Muscat and Oman.1 file (54 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 56; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 3-54; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
The file contains correspondence between the Bahrain Political Agent (Colonel Barrett, from November 1927 to April 1929), representatives of the Hindu community in Manama, and the Khalifa ruling family. The correspondence refers to the ownership and use of freshwater pools (referred to as
chauchub) by the town's Hindu (Banyan) community for bathing, drinking and washing, and by the Al Khalifa family as a source of water for the irrigation of their date gardens. The file contains notes made by Political Agency staff, based on visits to the baths, which record the arrangement of the baths, their different uses, and the condition of the water found within them. In a letter dated 6 May 1929, the Political Agent (now Captain Prior) writes to the Hindu community (folio 10), requesting that they refrain from using soap in the baths, which is producing white slime in the water, presumably making it unsuitable for irrigation purposes.1 file (14 folios)Correspondence in the file is arranged in chronological order, from the earliest piece at the front of the file to the latest at the end.Foliation: The file is foliated from the front cover to the inside back cover, with pencil numbers in the top-right corner of each front-facing page. Foliation anomalies: 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D.
