Coll 6/9 'Jeddah Reports Jany 1931–' [‎205v] (411/802)

there is not available in Jedda. One particular ground of suspicion has been
the anxiety of the Italians to have an agent on shore at Hodeida.
111. The Saudi Government have vaguer fears regarding France and
possibly Soviet Russia. The French also sent a sloop to Hodeida, the upshot of
foreign naval activity at the end of the month being that there was one British
sloop, one Italian sloop and a destroyer, and one French sloop. His Majesty’s
Government would have liked to promote the departure of all foreign warships,
subject to there being no ground for anticipating danger to foreign interests.
The realisation of this ideal has, however, been made more difficult by the latest
developments described above.
IV.— Miscellaneous.
112. The climate of Jedda displayed its worst features during May, the
combination of heat and damp being most trying. The strain imposed on the
Legation staff by the Saudi-Yemen crisis was all the more severe, especially
during the first half of the month.
113. A French cruiser, the Amiral Charnel, having on board Vice-Admiral
Joubert, visited Jedda from the 19th to 21st May.
114. A French journalist, M. Gaston Berthey, representing the Journal
des Dehats and the Journal, arrived in Jedda on the 13th May, and went on to
Hodeida on or about the 16th May. An Egyptian journalist named Mahmoud
Azmy, who has connexions in London and Paris as well as Cairo, and who
purports to represent the Daily Express, arrived the same day, but went to Taif
on the 14th. The former French consul in Jedda, Major Ibrahim Depui, has
also been floating round in the Hejaz.
115. The dispersal of the pilgrimage continued normally, and by the end
of the month was nearly complete. The Legation has had to repatriate an
unusually large number of Indian destitutes, and is threatened with a formidable
problem in connexion with the repatriation of Africans, whose numbers have
been steadily growing in Mecca and Jedda in recent years, and for whom there is
no longer adequate employment. The problem has been aggravated by the
consequences of the fire mentioned in paragraph 90 of the last report, and by the
sudden enforcement in Mecca of the regulation mentioned in paragraph 144 of
the report for July 1933.
116. The position as regards the manumission of slaves during May was
as follows :—
On hand at the beginning of the month : 4 males, 3 females, 2 children.
Took refuge in May : 1 male.
Manumitted in May and repatriated : 3 males, 1 female, 1 child.
Locally manumitted : Nil.
On hand at the end of the month : 2 males, 2 females, 1 child.
117. The Royal slave mentioned in paragraph 94 of the last report was
duly manumitted by the Acting Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior on
behalf of his father the King, and was embarked for Jibuti, via Aden, under the
auspices of the Legation on the 17th May. The case mentioned in paragraph 95
of the last report is still unsettled.