ملف ١٩٢٤/١٧٠٧ "الجزيره العربية - تقارير عن الوضع في جدة. (١٩٢٤-١٩٣٠)" [ظ‎‎٤‎٠] (٨٩٨/٨٥)

4
137 /wi /~i sv /~) /~i /kj /t 7 r\Oi r i 'Yi P fl. ~j\I flj tt(j7 •
Nationality —
Javanese (? including Malays)
Total.
Egyptian
Indians
Others ...
35,871
17,136
11,457
20,357
84,821
13. The weather during the festival, and indeed throughout most of May, was
relatively cool. Pilgrimage conditions were generally favourable. ^ There were no
epidemics and isolated cases of serious disease were not numerous. The use of motor
< cars for the journey from Mecca to Arafat and Muna was allowed for the first time
I and some advantage was taken of the innovation. The King brought into operation
and personally superintended arrangements for the departure of the pilgrims from
Mecca in batches, a system which seems to have given good results. The dispersal of
pilgrims leaving Jedda by sea proceeded with unusually little difficulty up to the
end of the month. This generally satisfactory situation was marred in the latter
part of May bv the untoward circumstances described in the following paragraphs.
14. The" Hejaz authorities had, on the 12th May, officially declared the
pilgrimage clean and the claim appeared to be justified. On the 22nd May, however,
the Egyptian Sanitary Board announced that they had brought into application
articles 140 and 141 of the Paris Convention of 1926 owing to the discovery at Tor
of a suspect case or cases of cholera. This was followed by a report from Massowah
of an ascertained case, resulting in death on the 27th May, among pilgrims arriving
in that port. The measures taken have caused a considerable dislocation of shipping
and some controversy based on the apparently true assertion that no cholera has been
detected in the Hejaz itself, but these consequences will come more properly into the
monthly report for June.
15. A disaster unprecedented in the annals of this port, although not in the
history of pilgrim ships elsewhere, occurred on the evening of the 21st May, when the
steamship “Asia," of the French Fabre line, caught fire at anchor in the outer
harbour. She had been loaded with a full complement of some 1,500 pilgrims, mostly
from the Yemen, but including about 300 from French Somaliland. About 115 persons
perished on board or by drowning. The British pilgrim ships in port rendered all
possible assistance, and the local authorities did well in the matter of organising
relief on shore. The disaster gave rise to the most contradictory reports as to the
origin of the fire and the action of the French captain and officers, both as regards
, their handling of the situation and their personal conduct. None of the points at
issue can be said to have been elucidated. The local authorities embarked on an
enquiry, but showed little capacity for conducting it in a way calculated to inspire
confidence in any conclusions. The “ Asia, 5 ' already an old ship, was completely
gutted. Some days after the fire she was diverted on to a reef and any danger of
her encumbering the fairwmy or sinking in deep water seems to have been averted.
i 1 f'-v I H /-v /■* /'nJ ^ X J i* • • . -1 • 1
16. The increased use of motor transport in connexion wdth the pilgrimage has
brought minor troubles in its train. For instance, eleven out of forty pil°Tim motor
buses collected for the night at Bir Ben Hussaini on the Jedda-Medina road, were
burnt out on the 23rd May. Although there was no loss of life, considerable dis
organisation was caused. There has also been a number of cases of cars overturning
m which two deputy collectors from India, amongst others ce»T»irmalv irvinrfid.