Coll 6/9 'Jeddah Reports Jany 1931–' [‎324v] (649/802)

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Chapter I.— Internal Affairs.
Ibn Saud.
THE King left Riyadh on the 2nd January for Hufuf, the capital 01 the
Hasa. News of this visit was telegraphed by His Majesty’s Minister to the
Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and advantage was taken of it to arrange
a meeting between Lieutenant-Colonel Biscoe and Ibn Saud, with results which
are mentioned in paragraphs 41 to 43. Colonel Biscoe arrived at Hufuf on
the 23rd January and stayed until the 28th. On the 7th February Ibn Saud
left the Hasa to return to Riyadh for the Id-al-Fitr, the breaking of the fast of
Ramadan. He remained there for the rest of February and March.
A ccession Day.
2. His Majesty the King telegraphed a message of good wishes to Ibn Saud
on the occasion of the anniversary of the latter’s accession day, the 8th January.
3. As a result of the opposition of the Wahhabi Ulama of Nejd, reported
in paragraph 21 of the Jedda report for last May-June, this year’s celebration
of accession day was modest by comparison with that of last year. Mecca, being
a religious centre under puritan protection, was entirely spared the defilement
which joy occasions; but at Jedda, where morals are looser, school-children sang
about the streets, the Governor held a morning reception of the foreign repre
sentatives, happily not a very gay affair, and the afternoon was devoted to a
tea-party at the Green Palace—which, incidentally, has not yet been paid for—
the palace, that is, not the tea-party. This was organised by the local Celebration
Committee, and attended by the Viceroy, who came from Mecca expressly for the
function. The annual celebration was thus deliberately repeated, in spite of the
King’s promises to his divines to be good; but there was neither review nor
dinner-party, nor the poetry-cum-picnic-luncheon at Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Fatima, features
which so polluted the occasion last year.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
4. Although His Majesty’s Minister had returned to Jedda on the
15th December, no effective contact with the Hejazi Foreign Ministry, otherwise
than by letter or telephone, was possible until the Under-Secretary for Foreign
Affairs returned from Nejd, whither he had gone on the 15th December. He
left Riyadh on the 2nd January, arrived at Mecca on the 5th, and came to Jedda
on the 7th, followed the next day by his princeling-Minister. The latter made
no attempt to live up to his title of Minister for Foreign Affairs. He was,
nevertheless, entertained to dinner at the Legation on the 11th January, and
seemed languidly pleased. All business was transacted with Fuad Bey Hamza,
in a series of interviews held on the 11th, 13th. 16th, 18th, 19th, 21st and 24th
January. The Amir Feisal returned to Mecca on the 18th, his Under-Secretary
on the 26th.
5. They returned to Jedda together on the 10th February for the signing
of the Italian treaty, remained to meet the first Iraqi diplomatic representative
on the 14th. and left again on the 17th. His Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires
discussed current matters with the Under-Secretary on the 11th and 16th. The
next visit to Jedda was paid on the 18th March, when Fuad Bey came alone to
discuss pilgrimage matters with Mr. Hope Gill. He did so on the 19th, and left
a day or two later. He was in Jedda again during the last days of March fixing
up his trip to Europe, but was not heard or seen by the Legation. Perhaps he
felt that ten conversations a quarter were enough to hold with any foreign mission.
Be that as it may, His Majesty’s Charge d Affaires, for his part, was disposed
to agree that one can easily have too much of a bad thing.
Constitutional Reform.
5 a. In paragraph 3 of the last Jedda report it was remarked that Ibn Saud
had at length conceded the principle of a Cabinet charged with joint responsibility
for Government and individual responsibility for departmental affairs. On the
15th January the “ Umm-al-Qura " published in the name of God, the Merciful,
the Compassionate, a “Regulation concerning the Council of Ministers.” In
form it calls for more compassion than a busy man is inclined to feel, such a
rigmarole is it, such a mesh-work of cunning knots and slip-knots. In effect,