Coll 6/9 'Jeddah Reports Jany 1931–' [‎184r] (368/802)

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advantage of a saving clause in the agreement with Sharqieh to buy some
twenty-five cars of other makes through Messrs. Gellatly, Hankey and Co., whose
business is, however, adversely affected by the agreement.
307. The zeal of the Jedda Committee of Virtue in driving citizens from
caf6 to mosque at the outset of Ramadan produced a fracas, in the course of which
two minions of the committee were beaten. This fracas led to the arrest of
numerous citizens, as many as eighty, it is said. Most of them were released
within a few days, having been beaten, but a small number were kept in gaol.
308. The Umm-al-Qura took the trouble on the 21st December to deny a
report that a niece of Ibn Saud had arrived in Cairo and entered a school for the
daughters of shereefs.
II. —Frontier Questions and Foreign Relations in A rabia.
309. Reference has already been made in paragraph 305 to the proceedings
of the Iraq survey party, which visited Mecca and Jedda in connexion with the
proposed Najaf-Medina pilgrim route. There is little else to record in this
chapter, except that the Saudi-Yemen situation appears to be satisfactory, if
stationary, as regards the frontier delimitation contemplated in article 4 of the
Treaty of Taif. It is stated that the Deputy Minister of Finance, Hamad-as-
Suleiman, and Sheikh Khalid-al-Qarqani have been selected to serve as the Saudi
Commissioners for this purpose, but they had not left up to the end of December.
III.— Relations with Powers outside A rabia.
310. By a note dated the 28th November, Ibn Saud offered to His Majesty
the King his congratulations and good wishes on the occasion of the marriage of
the Duke and Duchess of Kent. On the 2nd December His Majesty’s Charge
d’Affaires, by command of the King, transmitted to Ibn Saud His Majesty’s
311. When Fuad Bey Hamza called on His Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires on
the 7th December, as stated in paragraph 295 above, he expressed the personal
view that it would be an excellent plan, if the proposed negotiations on questions
outstanding between his Government and His Majesty’s Government in the
United Kingdom could be conducted in Riyadh. It would probably be
impracticable from a British point of view to conduct systematic negotiations
there, but it is possible that Sir Andrew Ryan may receive, early in the New
Year, an invitation to Riyadh, which was somewhat definitely foreshadowed at
the time of his visit to Taif last July. Meanwhile, Sir Andrew Ryan has had
no personal intercourse with the Saudi Government since his return, excepting
an exchange of personal telegrams with Fuad Bey Hamza, who intimated on the
21st December that he expected to be detained at Riyadh until the end of
Ramadan, but hoped to see the Minister immediately after the ensuing festival,
which should end on the 5th January.
312. The Saudi Government agreed, in a note dated the 25th December, to \
exempt from customs duty the medical supplies for the Government of India
dispensary (paragraph 283 of the last report) to be imported for the forthcoming
pilgrimage season, but they made it clear that they were making the concession
for this occasion only, without prejudice to their views on the various issues, in
regard to the medical organisation attached to the Legation, which are to be
discussed in due course, when Fuad Bey is available.
313. The French consulate in Jedda is to be raised to the status of a j
Legation on the 1st January, and the present Charge d’Affaires is to have the 1
rank of Minister Resident. M. Maigret professes to have no ambition other than
that of ending his career in Jedda and makes no secret of the fact that he owes
his retention here, with a higher rank, to the good word which Fuad Bey said
for him in Paris in the autumn. He is about to proceed to Hodeida en route for
Sana and proposes after a brief visit to the King of the Yemen, apparently of a
complimentary nature, to go to Syria for a short time.
314. Major or Colonel Ibrahim Depui (paragraph 114 of the report for
June) the French ex-officer who apes the Lawrences and Philbys of Arabia, again
arrived in Jedda about the middle of the month. He distinguished himself on
[306 bb—1] b 2