IOR/R/15/2/1045

The file relates to the payment of Sumptuary Allowance (an allowance for official entertainment, including the costs of liquor, staff and accommodation for guests) to the Political Agent, Bahrain. The papers consist mainly of correspondence between the Political Agent, the office of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and the Government of India, and include:

• correspondence concerning a request from the Political Agent, Charles Geoffrey Prior, for an increase in the Sumptuary Allowance from 100 to 200 rupees per month (on a par with that paid at the British Consulate at Kerman in Persia), on the grounds of rising wage costs, increasing numbers of visitors to Bahrain, the existence of higher allowances in the private sector; and the climate of Bahrain, which was much less attractive than that of Kerman and meant that local foodstuffs were hard to obtain; and papers concerning the rejection of this request, August 1929 to June 1930;
• correspondence relating to further requests by the Political Agent, supported by the Political Resident, for an increase in the Sumptuary Allowance, particularly citing the increase in the European population in Bahrain since 1930, and the fact that the social life of Bahrain was centred on the Agency, April 1935 to August 1940;
• the Government of India's decision to raise the Sumptuary Allowance from 100 to 200 rupees per month for a period of one year, November 1940, and further correspondence from the Government of India confirming continuations in the payment of the allowance at the same rate up to August 1947.