'File 61/13 I (D 133) Wahabis and Pilgrimage to Hedjaz' [‎69r] (149/431)

/ 1
13
some cases the Government alone was entirely responsible, while in others it was
the fault of the motor owners or the mutawwifs. As a matter of fact, no other
single question connected with the pilgrimage, with the exception of the booking
of tickets and shipping affairs generally, caused such trouble as did the question
of motor transport. First in the time and foremost in magnitude of the
difficulties experienced in this connexion was the Government's order, issued after
the pilgrimage, according to which only those pilgrims who intended to visit
Medina were allowed to leave Mecca, while the others, a very large number
compared to the former, who desired to return to their homes were detained.
This caused vehement and universal protest. The practice heretofore was that
pilgrims coming to Jedda en route for their homes were allowed to proceed first.
The journey between Mecca and Jedda being a short one—about three hours by
car—the motor vehicles used to bring to Jedda pilgrims who intended to sail
immediately to their homes were employed for a week or so only, after which
they were free to carry pilgrims to Medina. On the other hand, it takes over a
week for a car to reach and return from Medina, so that this order caused great
delay to pilgrims who did not wish to visit Medina. This departure from the
old practice would appear to have been actuated by a selfish consideration lest
the pilgrims Avho started out with the intention of visiting Medina once they
reached Jedda would abandon their intention and thus not enable the Govern
ment to collect the "koshan." As a matter of fact, the mischief was the result
of the action of certain motor owners who happen to exercise great influence
with the Government and who are said to have advised the Government to enforce
this regulation so as to increase their own profits. Excepting these few, all the
other motor companies had, as usual, collected motor hire for Jedda and Medina
in advance for the latter journey; it was promised that cars would be provided
a week after the Haj. On the introduction of the new regulation the majority
of the vehicles went to Medina; only a small number remaining at Mecca. In
the meantime the detained pilgrims were allowed to go, and the Government
forced those motor owners who had collected the hire in advance to arrange for
the conveyance of these pilgrims. Cars were few, time was short and the pilgrims
were numerous and clamorous. Motor hire went up as a natural result. The
motor owners had to provide cars at any rate—considerably higher than that
which they had originally charged—and to put up with the loss. Great
hardships were entailed on pilgrims during their compulsory detention in a hot
and unwholesome climate.
43. Another peculiar regulation which formed the subject of complaints
was that a driver was only allowed to take 4 gallons of petrol in his car when
going to Mecca from Jedda, so that on the return journey he had to purchase
fresh supplies in the capital. In more than one case this quantity of petrol, as
a result of mechanical disorders, leakage, &c., was consumed before Mecca was
reached, and the cars and their passengers had to stop on the way—a lonely,
sandy and a shadeless track. The pilgrims therefore, more often than not, had to
buy petrol from other passing motor buses at a very high price in order to reach
their destination. In this case also it seems that certain influential persons who
sell petrol at Mecca were to blame, as, in the absence of any such regulation,
they would have had no sale for it because motor drivers when going to Mecca
would have taken—as they used to do in the past—a sufficient supply of petrol at
Jedda sufficient for both journeys, which is cheaper as well as more convenient.
Another reason is said to be that a deficiency had occurred in the tax which the
Municipal Board at Mecca levies on the sale of petrol there. This, however,
cannot be vouched for, as it is known that the motor owners had oifered, but
without success, to make up the board's deficit in this respect.
44. The following is a brief account of other complaints made in connexion
with motor transport: —
(1) Several reports were received of accidents and over-turning of motor
vehicles, resulting in injuries and deaths. Among Indian pilgrims a certain
proprietor of the ice factory An East India Company trading post. at Lucknow and an Indian woman lost their lives;
while many, including two deputy collectors, received serious injuries. Many of
the injuries were the result of rash and incompetent driving on bad roads, not
merely of unavoidable accidents.
(2) Many of the pilgrims had their baggage dropped on the road from
cars, and no effort was made, either by the drivers, motor owners or the authorities