'File 61/11 IV (D 77) Hejaz-Nejd, Miscellaneous' [‎58v] (126/366)

8. Accounts from private sources show the conference in a less happy light.
It undoubtedly focussed attention on a great many matters of public interest and,
if certain of the suggestions put forward were acted on, good would result. r i he
questions of mutawwifs, for instance, would appear to have given rise to
considerable discussion, and at least one useful proposal seems to have emerged,
namely, that they should cease to be used for the purpose of collecting Government
taxation (see paragraph 57 of the pilgrimage report for 1930). On the other
hand, some of the suggestions made in this connexion might, if adopted, tend to
strengthen the hold of the mutawwifs on pilgrims.
9. The most crucial subject of discussion was, however, the financial situa
tion. Some of the delegates were apparently bold enough to criticise present
methods and to suggest means, including the establishment ot a regular budget,
whereby extravagance might be curtailed and the power of Sheikh Abdullah
Suleiman, the Director-General of Finance, might be curbed, ihe critics seemed
to have quarrelled violently with the sheikh and to have incurred the displeasure
of the King. It is, indeed, said that this controversy decided His Majesty to
make an end of the conference sooner than he might otherwise have done.
10. Broadly speaking, it may be said that the conference did more to make
discontent articulate than to solve problems. It emphasised the polarisation
between Nejda arrogance and the sense of grievance with which Hejazis see
themselves ridden over roughshod while their money is drained out of the country
to pay for extravagant purchases abroad and to supply the needs of Nejd. From
the point of view of a foreign observer, perhaps the most interesting feature of
the proceedings was the tendency, due more, perhaps, to subservience than to
conviction in the case of persons other than officials and ulema, to assert Islamic
exclusiveness. I am told that some of the pilgrimage questions were approached
in the spirit that foreign pilgrims should be discouraged from invoking the
assistance of their consular authorities. The view seems to have prevailed that
any foreign experts employed should be Moslems and that any concessions granted
should also be granted to Moslems.
11. In some ways, indeed, the conference seems to have taken on the
character of a Moslem' religious gathering rather than that of a Hejazi national
assembly. It is even suggested that it was intended partly as a counter-move to
the efforts of the Indian, Shauqat Ali, who is notoriously hostile to Ibn Saud, to
brin^ about a general Moslem conference. In this connexion, it is interesting to
note^that the Mecca representatives at the National Conference included two
Indian notables resident there, Messrs. Abdullah and Obeidullah Dehlavi.
According to my principal informant, a proposal was actually mooted that
Indians should be given a share in the administration of the country, but was
rejected by the King, in accord with his Syrian advisers, owing to the danger of
Indians becoming consular tools.
12. I should be sorry to vouch for everything in this hurriedly-written and
imperfectly-informed report, but I think that, in the main, it gi\es a tairly
'accurate account of an interesting, though incomprehensive, experiment; interest-
ing as a reflex of the state of affairs in this country; inconclusive because Ibn Saud
will gang his ain gait, so far as religious, financial and tribal considerations
do not restrict his freedom of motion.
18. I am sending copies of this despatch to the Secretary to the Government
of India in the Foreign and Political Department, His Majesty's High Com
missioner at Jerusalem, the Acting High Commissioner at Bagdad and the Acting
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. .
I have, &c.
ANDREW RYAN.