Coll 6/9 'Jeddah Reports Jany 1931–' [‎219r] (438/802)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
EASTERN (Arabia).
CONFIDENTIAL.
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p.
April 24, 193jt. 3 7
Section l.j
[E 2534/715/25] No. 1.
Sir A. Ryan to Sir John Simon.—(Received April 24.)
(No. 89. Confidential.)
Sir, Jedda, April 2, 1934.
I HAVE the honour to submit herewith the Jedda report for March 1934.
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 March 1934.
I .—Internal Affairs.
45. Ibn Saud left Riyadh on the 16th March and arrived in Mecca for
the pilgrimage on the 20th March. He was reported at the end of the month
to be very nervous for his personal safety, and to have taken unusual precautions
at pilgrimage time to ensure it. The heir apparent remained in command in
the south. His brother, the Amir Feisal, less mobile than he had been, seems
to have spent the month in Mecca. Fuad Bey Hamza was certainly at Abha
and/or Khamis Musheyt during the greater part of the month, though he may
have left for Mecca before it actually ended. His brother Taufiq, who acts as
private secretary in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, was used for messages
to the Legation, except on two occasions, when diplomatic business was conducted
with the Minister of Finance and Sheikh Yusuf Yasin respectively. The latter
had, as usual, returned from Riyadh with the King, who rarely releases him
from personal attendance.
46. The Saudi-Yemen situation and the pilgrimage, which will be dealt
with below, overshadowed all other interests during March. Such internal
developments as are worth recording were for the most part connected with the
former. Military activity continued. The Saudi motor craft ran to and fro
between Jedda and Jizan. A fire broke out on board one on its way south and
caused, according to the official account, six deaths.
47. The financial situation remained unchanged. Its most remarkable
recent feature has been that, while money is still short, the Saudi Government /
seems to have become more punctilious in the matter of payments in respect
of current transactions, even when the goods have been delivered. They have
evidently realised that this is essential im cases where they may want to place
further orders.
48. The following items of financial and economic interest may be noted :
(a) Huseyn-al-Awayni returned to Jedda on the 4th March and was followed
by Abdul-Ghani Ydlibi on the 11th March (paragraph 29 (h) of the February
report). Mr. Ydlibi called on His Majesty’s Minister on the 17th March, a
compleat, though unappetising, Briton. He expressed the confident belief that
he would get the Koweit Neutral Zone Oil Concession, so far as Ibn Saud was
concerned, and a concession for oil in the Northern Hejaz on the 21st March.
He described also an entirely new bank scheme, which he hoped to put through
and which he said had the approval of the Minister of Finance. The plan was
to create a bank the capital of which would be subscribed equally, or almost
equally, by a British bank and the Saudi Government. This capital of
£1 million sterling would be applied to the purchase of War Loan, to be