"ملف 61/11 V (D 95) مسائل متنوعة خاصة بالحجاز ونجد" [و‎‎١‎٧‎٣] (٥٣٠/٣٦٢)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT
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EASTERN (A rabia ). \ n "' 1 s June 14, 1933.
CONFIDENTIAL. f I-' — S ection 1.
[B 3133/234/25] No. 1.
Sir A. Ryan to Sir John Sim — 14.)
(No. 147.)
Jedda, May 20, 1933.
' SINCE I wrote my despatcli No. 331 of the 2nd August last incidental
reference only has been made in reports from this Legation to M. van Leeuwen.
the Dutch expert who entered the service of the Saudi Government in April 1932
as financial adviser. I have now to record his final departure from Jedda on the
18th May. _
2. M. van Leeuwen returned from sick leave in or about October last. This
leave interrupted what was to have been a year of continuous service, to be
followed by a period of leave on full pay before his contract finally expired. I
believe it was agreed that he should draw no salary for the period of his absence
last year, and should make up for the time lost by serving for an additional three
months at the end of the vear originally contemplated.
3. Unfortunatelv M. van Leeuwen's health has continued to be precarious.
He has had several bouts of illness during the spring, and this has been the
immediate cause of his leaving for good. It must be attributed in part, however,
to the hopelessness of his position in the Administration here. I do not think
that he has at any time been allowed to do more than write academic reports, and
it has been increasingly evident of late that he could play no effective role in a
department dominated by the personality and methods of Sheikh Abdullah
Suleiman. . ,
4. Things were not improved by M. van Leeuwen s condemnation ot tne
National Bank scheme projected by the ex-Khedive and his associates. By the
time this was launched he had lost patience to such an extent that he abandoned
his previous attitude of discretion and expressed his adverse opinion to outsiders
like myself. Saudi circles were very ready to think that his hostility to the
scheme was due to apprehension lest it should damage the position of the
Netherlands Trading Society, which is, as you know, the only organised bank
here and in which he was formerly employed. The suspicion may have been
increased by the fact that, for reasons of health, he had gone to stay indefinitely
with the Netherlands Charge d'Affaires.
5. It was to be foreseen that no adviser could reorganise the finances ot this
country in a year, least of all in a year so inauspicious as one beginning in April
1932, when they were already in a desperate condition and the whole world as
well was in a mess. It is, however, lamentable that M.. van Leeuwen, of whose
capacity I cannot judge, but who was an honest and industrious man, should not
have had a chance of doing anything at all. He had no axe to grind, and I do
not think that the Netherlands authorities made any attempt to use him for their
own purposes. The Dutch Charge d Affaires has assured me that since he
presented M. van Leeuwen to the King he has scrupulously refrained from
meddling in his affairs, and has not seen his reports. I believe this to be true,
and I shall be all the sorrier for M. Adriaanse if, as is possible, he has to concern
himself with the final settlement of account between the Saudi Government and
their late adviser.
I have, &c.
ANDREW EYAN.
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