Coll 6/9 'Jeddah Reports Jany 1931–' [‎177r] (354/802)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
EASTERN (Arabia). , ; - March 18, 1935.
CONFIDENTIAL. * Section 3.
[ ( • "' f -T
O 1 —J
[E 1807/557/25] No. 1.
Sir A. Ryan to Sir John Simon.—{Received March 18.)
(No. 66. Confidential.)
Sir, Jedda, March 2, 1935.
I HAVE the honour to submit herewith the Jedda report for February 1935.
2. Copies have been distributed as in the list appended to the report for
J anuary.
I have, &c.
ANDREW RYAN.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Jedda Report for February 1935.
I .—Internal Affairs.
36. Ibn Saud remained in camp at Rawdat-al-Khafs, except for at least one
outing in the neighbourhood, throughout the month. It is stated that, apart from
constant visitors, no less than 3,000 people have been settled in an encampment of
some 500 tents. Rosalinds and Celias are not lacking in this Arabian Forest of
Arden, for the Saudi Minister in London told Sir Andrew Ryan roguishly on the
17th February that there were two camps, one for the ladies.
37. Nothing of interest was heard during the month about the other members
of the Royal family and their alleged dissensions, but it seems certain that there
was at least a breeze between the King and his brother Muhammad. The Amir
Feisal kept his state at Mecca, as Viceroy. His Deputy Minister for Foreign
Affairs came twice to Jedda. He had important conversations with
Sir Andrew Ryan on the 6th and 7th February. On the second occasion,
Fuad Bey’s objects included the meeting of his wife, who arrived from Syria on
the l9th, and the seeing off of the Saudi Minister in London. The latter had
arrived in Jedda from Rawdat-al-Khafs via Mecca on the 17th, and left for
London via Egypt on the 19th. Fuad Bey found time for a further interview with
Sir Andrew Ryan on the 20th.
38. No events of importance were reported from the country near the Yemen
border, Hasa or any part of the interior. As regards the Governor of Hasa and
Muhammad-at-Tawil (paragraph 5 of the report for January), it now seems
doubtful whether they have quarrelled, but certain that Tawil has been at logger-
heads with the California Arabian Standard Oil Company, and that his position
is shaken.
39. The Umm-al-Qura of the 1st February gave prominence to loyal
addresses to the King by Hejazi notables and pilgrim guides, a promos of the
measure of clemency mentioned in paragraph 6 (c) of the last report and to the
King’s gracious and self-justifying reply. As was anticipated there has been no
spectacular homeward rush of exiles, but the press has announced the return of
i j two persons. One is a certain Lieutenant-Colonel Muhammad Sadiq. of whose
II presence in India the Saudi Government complained in 1933, and in whose move
ments His Majesty’s Government have since interested themselves. The other
is one Sheikh Omar Saleh Seyrafi, of whom the Legation knows nothing, but who
is said to have been expelled from Mecca some eight years ago and to have now
returned from Lahej.
40. Liberalism has had another triumph. A circular from the Saudi
Government to the foreign missions, dated the 12th February, confirmed previous
information to the effect that the existing ban on wireless apparatus had been
removed. The regulation reserves the general rights of the Saudi Government in
[356 s—3] B