ملف ١٩٢٤/١٧٠٧ "الجزيره العربية - تقارير عن الوضع في جدة. (١٩٢٤-١٩٣٠)" [و‎‎٢‎٠‎٢] (٨٩٨/٤٠٨)

EASTERN (Arabia)
CONFIDENTIAL.
[E 3204/644/91] No _ 1
Consul Stonehewer-Bird to Sir Austen Chamberlain.—(Received July 21.)
(No. 73. Secret.)
Sir
I HAVE the honour to transnoit herewkh my report olSiffin'in'the
Hejaz during the period the 1st to the 30th June, 1927
r>„iu 2 '-R C0P f ie / S r 0f il 118 rep0r x t tJ? bemg sent to E SyP t 5 Jerusalem (2), Bagdad, Aden,
elhi, Beirut (for Damascus), Khartum (through Port Sudan), Singapore, Lagos (2^
I have, &c.
G. H. W. STONEHEWER-BIRD.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Jeddah Report for the Period from June 1 to June 30, 1927
THE period under review has witnessed the largest pilgrimage for many years,
in tne opinion of the Government it has established a record. The number of
pilgrims arriving in the Hejaz from foreign ports is estimated at roughly 140,000,
wtule the total number at Arafat was not less than 240,000. It was inevitable that
the sanitary arrangements made by the Government at Mecca and Arafat should
tall tar short of perfection. They were, in fact, frankly bad. A large sum of
money had been set aside for this purpose, but the Director of the Public Health
Department, when taxed by the King with his inefficient handling of the situation,
was hard put to it to explain how the money had been spent. There was no lack
ol water at Mecca, but the price rose to P.T. 15 a tin. Deaths from
sunstroke were numerous at Muna. The temperature reached 124 degrees (shade).
The Government admit a total mortality at Muna of 1,500 pilgrims, though the
figure is probably much higher. The official organisation was unable to cope
satisfactorily with the problem of removing the dead in a sufficiently short space
of time; the consequent sights and odours were so revolting that thousands of
pilgrims, including my Egyptian colleague, returned to Mecca without completing
their religious duties.
2. Security on the roads was complete. The number of cars available was
insufficient to meet all needs, and the tracks (there are no roads) were in a bad
state, but the introduction of motor-car services between Mecca, Jeddah and
Medina is an undoubted boon to the richer classes of pilgrims. There were no cases
of robbery or theft on the road. At Mecca, however, police control appears to
have been less effective than last year and numbers of pilgrims lost their money and
their passports in the precincts of the mosques.
3. The situation as regards shipping is in most cases satisfactory though
there is room for improvement as regards the supply of sufficient shipping for the
accommodation of returning Indian pilgrims. The arrangements made by the Holt
line for the transport of Malay pilgrims have as usual been excellent.
4. At the instigation of the agency the local authorities established a commis
sion for the better regulation of the Indian pilgrim traffic. The commission collects
from the guides the passports and tickets of pilgrims as they arrive in Jeddah and
accommodation is booked for them in the order of their arrival. The system has
worked to the satisfaction of all parties; it was introduced to ensure fair treatment
to rich and poor alike; in the past it too often happened that the last 200 or 300
places on a boat were reserved for those willing to pay a premium. The aims of
the commission were to some extent defeated by the fact that many pilgrims holding
Shustari return tickets lost their turn as only two boats of that line were available,
with a carrying capacity of 2,491 pilgrims, while nearly 5,000 awaited repatriation.
The reintroduction of the deposit system is the only solution to the Indian pilgrim
problem. Shipping companies are now primarily concerned with not transgressing
[175 x _i]
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