Coll 6/9 'Jeddah Reports Jany 1931–' [‎339v] (679/802)

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official English by a fixed name. Some other posts still seem to find it difficult
to reconcile the spelling “Jedda” with their philological principles. If these
can finally be overcome, it will be much appreciated at Jedda.
(Confidential.)
Ibn Saud. I.— Internal Affairs. 1
1 HE King continued in Riadh throughout November and December, but he
was no longer able to brood on his personal troubles; there came home to roost in
Nejd the troublesome offspring of union with the Hejaz. The last two reports
have described the process of further disintegration which the already rotten
state of the Hejaz passed through after Ibn Saud's withdrawal into Nejd in
June. In the first days of November he had before him at Riadh a memorandum
on the situation drawn up by his son Feisal, the Viceroy, and Fuad Bey Hamza,
his Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. These had at length revolted against
the virtual dictatorship of his henchman and Director-General of Finance,
Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman, who had to go to Riadh to give his own account of his
stewardship. The memorandum revealed dissension in the Government of the
Ilejaz amounting to deadlock and a critical state of financial chaos. It
prescribed two remedies which His Majesty had never yet been able to stomach, a
budget and a ‘‘ Cabinet." He now, however, accepted both, with what difficulty
is not known, and sent his chief political adviser, Sheikh Yusuf Yasin, to Jedda
with a proclamation and to concert financial measures with Fuad Hamza.
Abdullah Suleiman he retained in Nejd until the trouble should blow over.
Reforms.
2. On the 3rd November the Hejaz was shocked by the news that, by direct
order of the King, the Treasury and all its branches were to be closed and the tills
locked, and that no payments, however small, were to be made pending further
instructions. This was the first sign of Ibn Sand's reaction to the situation. Its
inconveniences were manifold, for all daily-paid public and municipal work at
once ceased, and the Quarantine Department, for instance, had to borrow fuel
for its launch in order to function at all.
3. Late on the 12th November, Yusuf Yasin arrived post-haste in Jedda,
where the Amir Feisal and Fuad Hamza were awaiting him to learn the King's
decisions. On the following morning His Majesty’s Charge d'Affaires was
invited to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to receive the welcome news of
financial and constitutional reform. The latter, he was given to understand, was
not yet elaborated, but the King had conceded the principle of a Council of
Ministers on whom would rest joint responsibility for government in addition to
individual responsibility for their departments. The resulting decree, which was
not published until January, falls to be considered in the next report. As to
financial reform, Yusuf Yasin and Fuad Hamza were in a position to announce
the establishment of a budget.
4. They told Mr. Hope Gill in confidence that the revenue would be in
future apportioned under four headings :—
35 per cent., official salaries, intended to cover all normal costs of
administration;
25 per cent., indebtedness, to cover all arrears of salaries as well as the
Government's internal and external debt;
15 per cent., reserve (a novelty with all the attraction of a pot of
• honey); and
25 per cent., extraordinary expenses, intended to ensure the comfort and
health of pilgrims and to develop the country’s hidden resources.
Even approximate figures of estimated revenue were not yet available but
it had been calculated that current indebtedness could be met in about two years
There Sheikh lusuf's information stopped, and he left to say his pravers
Nevertheless, it was gratifying to learn of even the birth of a budget. ' ■ '
5. On the same day the Umm-al-Qura published a long proclamation by
the King to his people announcing the information contained in the precedlno-
paragraph, but omitting the percentages, establishing the principle that all
creditors must stand on an equal footing, and forecasting with pious hope the
beneficial results that would flow from the policy of retrenchment and development