IOR/R/15/2/1135

The file concerns the arrangements for the supply of funds by the Political Agency, Bahrain for expenses incurred by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and its personnel in Bahrain (also spelled Bahrein) and the Trucial Coast.

The correspondence is mainly from the Political Agent, Bahrain; staff of Air Headquarters, British Forces in Iraq, Hinaidi; the Residency Agent, Sharjah; and the Air Liaison Officer, RAF Bahrain (Wing Commander Aubrey Robert Maxwell Rickards). There is also some correspondence from the Adviser to the Government of Bahrain, and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.

The papers cover: correspondence concerning the consumption of electricity by RAF personnel in Bahrain (e.g. folio 13); monthly bills of expenditure incurred by the Political Agency, Bahrain on behalf of RAF personnel, for the period March 1936 - November 1937 inclusive; correspondence between the Political Agent, Bahrain, and the Residency Agent, Sharjah concerning monthly payments to Shaikh Said bin Maktum [Saʻīd bin Maktūm], Ruler of Dubai for hire of a petrol dhow and its guards, and to Shaikh Sultan bin Salim [Sulṭān bin Sālim Āl Qasimī], Ruler of Ras al Khaimah for pay of guards for a petrol barge, April 1936 - December 1937; receipts from RAF personnel for incidental expenses, and covering letters for payments of expenses issued by Air Headquarters, British Forces in Iraq, Hinaidi; correspondence between the Political Agent, Bahrain and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf concerning the need to prevent the Residency Agent Sharjah from being forced to make advances to RAF officers, July 1936; correspondence between the Political Agent, Bahrain and the Acting Adviser to the Government of Bahrain concerning payment of rent for Bahrain Aerodrome, August 1936; correspondence concerning payment of expenses in connection with the use by RAF personnel of the Bahrain Rest House (e.g. folio 113); sundry expenses incurred by the RAF in Bahrain (e.g. payment of expenses to the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) in connection with moving a crashed aeroplane, folio 134); and papers relating to the Air Liaison Officer, Bahrain (Wing Commander Aubrey Rickards), including correspondence between Rickards and the Political Agent, Bahrain, instructions concerning RAF accounting arrangements at Bahrain (folios 277-279), and correspondence concerning Rickards's death and estate, May - December 1937.

The Arabic language content of the file consists of approximately sixty-five items of correspondence (all with translations into English) between the Political Agent, Bahrain, and the Residency Agent, Sharjah; and a small number of miscellaneous items.