Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎126v] (253/540)

46
229. No questions of principle of common interest to the British Legation
and the navy arose during the year. Visits to Jedda continued to be paid by
notification only to the Saudi Government, unaccompanied by any request for
permission.
230. Mention can most conveniently be made here of the interest taken
during the year in the attribution of the island of Tiran, close to the mouth
of the Gulf of Aqaba. It is thought in some quarters that it might be held to be
Egyptian, but the balance of evidence seems to favour the view that it must be
regarded as Saudi. The debate, at present somewhat academic, was confined to
British circles and was not the subject of discussion with either the Saudi or
Egyptian Governments. The island may be of potential importance, and one
view is that means should be found to secure it effectively for Great Britain,
e.g., by purchase or in return for some concession in some other direction. If
the island is Saudi, this would be very difficult.
XIV.— Miscellaneous.
General Position of Foreign Subjects.
231. European British subjects continued to be treated with the same
consideration as before. The small number of those resident in the Hejaz, apart
from persons employed in the Legation, was increased by the British element in
the mixed personnel recruited by the Saudi Arabian Mining Syndicate. It is
worth mentioning that this company has been accorded the privilege of importing
moderate quantities of alcoholic beverages for the use of the staff, a privilege
which had already been granted to the Jedda staff of the California Arabian
Standard Oil Company. The authorisation of wireless receiving sets in Jedda
has been a boon to British subjects, including members of the Legation staff, as
to others. The growth in social life and amenities which was specially noted in
paragraph 195 of the report for 1934 has continued. The European community
still consists mainly of bachelors and grass-widowers. The departure of all the
Soviet Legation ladies deprived it of one feminine element, but they had taken
little part in general social life. Their loss was more than counterbalanced by a
small increase in the number of occidental ladies. Jedda dances more every year.
The success of the golf course has helped to stimulate the idea, still incoherent,
that Jedda could do with a general sports club. This is probably over-ambitious.
In the meantime, taking one thing with another, the European community has as
good a time as can be expected in a place which remains extremely primitive and
which has so foul a climate.
232. There was little ground for complaint in 1935 of the treatment
accorded to British subjects and protected persons of oriental race. The Saudi
Government would still like to eliminate or absorb them, but the drive in this
direction was not so apparent in 1935 as in 1934. For one thing, the situation
was relieved by the mass repatriation of some 1,500 Africans by the British
Legation (see paragraph 194 of the report for 1934), which was completed early
in 1935. It is hoped that, what with an increase in the demand for unskilled
labour in the Hejaz and the effect of the measures mentioned in paragraph 223,
there will be no early recurrence of the situation which necessitated the mass
repatriation.
Silver Jubilee.
233. The Jubilee of their Majesties The King and Queen was celebrated in
Jedda on a scale very modest in itself but unprecedented in poor little Jedda.
About 130 persons of many races attended a reception at the Legation on the
6th May, and a dinner on that day was attended by the British and Indian staff
and such European British subjects as were still in Jedda. Three of the Legation
houses were illuminated. Lady Ryan gave a successful party on the 8th May for
children, mostly those of the Legation servants and resident Indians. This sounds
a small affair, but it was remarkable in Jedda that some sixty children should be
entertained on the sea-shore and be brought back to the Legation for an amateur
cinema show.