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Coll 6/91 'Saudi Arabia. Policy of H.M.G. Qn. of credits and guarantee of assistance to Ibn Saud.' [134r] (268/680)
The record is made up of 1 file (338 folios). It was created in 24 Oct 1939-1 Jan 1945. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
K IS^T/'W^S.
o
[CYPHER] g . J,r DEP
FROM JEDP A TO FORETGW OFFICE
Mr. Stonehewer-Bird
No, 7 .
January 6th 3 1942.
<*x vC <
Your telegram No, 252,
/. £ JErf.dU^
'142 !
‘ Fu^UX^C^J
| to ^CC t
/o.r.
D 0 12 c 45 c p 3 m, January 6th, 1942.
R. l'0 r >50o a r , nu January/- 7th, 1942.
g/f. i/vW ,
oOo—f --- Tv / / _
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e-o
fl*.
1.. I will send "by hag which cannot, however, reach y,; r
for some weeks analysis of Saudi revenue.
2 - Meanwhile amazing drop can perhaos "best he under
stood by comparing Hejaz with a reasonably"prosperous health
resort to which both visitors of moneyed anci poorer classes
resort, former for long and latter for short periods. If the
number of poorer class of visitors falls by half and none of
the many richer visitors, accustomed to remain six months or
more ana spend freely, are able to pay their annual visit,
result mustoe the impoverishment of local population and
consequent inability to pay taxes or purchase commodities on
which taxes are levied,
QuU ,
3. Economies,
(a) It was as a result of
Minister of Finance to whom I u
with that in your paragraph 6,
Ibn Saud to abandon pilgrimage c
<amount to more than £S400,00U.
family and household and hires
has to be housed and fed for a
siderable item consists in the
charity amounting last year to
very serious talks with the
sed language almost identical
that it was decided to induce
Saving to government may
Ton Saud moves with his entire
some 600 cars. This small army
month_whilst another very con-
distribution of presents and
over £E100,000,
, O) Salaries previously paid in geld sovereigns, rate
™ 1C ^ W now 37 rials, are allotted in rials at the rate
oi 24 rials equals one sovereign.
(c) All public works have been suspended.
(d) No further purchases of furniture or equipment of
government houses and [gr.omit.] have been made.
4. Question of Arabian Standard Oil Company royalties.
Saudi-Arabian Government have since 1939 ceased to draw any
royalties as such from [givundec.] Arabian Standard Oil
Company as amounts w r hich would have accrued are now credited
to Saudi Arabian Government against loans, supply of petrol
motor transport, and other services-, From the beginning of’
the war to the present day the Company have advanced to Saudi-
Arabian Government mere than 8i million dollars in cash -id
supplies in excess of their concession obligations. Royalties
and rental over the past three years have averaged less than a
million dollars a year and it is only because the Company here
fully realise their strong interest m the stability of the
regime that they have felt justified in making advances
amounting to about < three^times the amounts actually due to the
Government of Saudi-Arabia; as a purely commercial proposition
SUCh a pel 1 r-v__wmi 1 X__np i^nnp^j
ftaCo. POi
*2
INDIA OFFICE
The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors.
ENCLCGf: IN WEEKLfWttTER
N °. o i i - r uv
FROM SECRETARY, EXTERNAL DEPT.,
INDIA OFFICE
The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors.
About this item
- Content
This file concerns British policy towards Saudi Arabia during the Second World War (the abbreviation 'Qn' in the title stands for 'Question'). The correspondence discusses the question of providing financial or material assistance to Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd], as well as the United States' growing economic and strategic interests in Saudi Arabia.
The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Reader Bullard, Hugh Stonehewer Bird, and Stanley R Jordan successively); the Secretary of State for India (Leo Amery); the Viceroy of India (Archibald Percival Wavell); the Chancellor of the Exchequer (John Anderson); officials of the Foreign Office, the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , the Treasury, the Government of India's Finance and External Affairs Departments, and the United States Embassy in London.
Related matters of discussion include the following:
- The idea (initially discussed in correspondence dating from 1939) of an alliance or a bloc of Arab states (chiefly comprised of Saudi Arabia and the Yemen), which would support the Allied cause.
- The Italo-German reaction to Ibn Saud's refusal to receive German diplomat Dr Fritz Konrad Ferdinand Grobba, a decision that was applauded by the British.
- Italian influence in the Middle East.
- Anglo-French co-operation in the Middle East.
- Details of the Saudi Government's finances (i.e. expenditure and revenue) during the early war years.
- Arrangements for loans and payments from the British to the Saudi Government, as well as details of royalties and loans paid to the Saudi Government by the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc).
- Proposals for an irrigation and agricultural mission to Saudi Arabia, headed by a United States agricultural expert.
- Conversations between Ibn Saud and United States General Patrick Hurley during the latter's visit to Riyadh in May 1943.
- The Government of India's decision in 1942 not to allow pilgrim ships to sail from India to Saudi Arabia, because of a risk of the ships being attacked.
- Ibn Saud's requests in 1944 for the British Government to send to Saudi Arabia financial and military advisers, preferably Sunni Moslems [Muslims].
- The proposed appointment of Ibn Saud's requested financial adviser, which is delayed and eventually abandoned, following the United States' suggestion that the position be given to a United States adviser, because of the United States' 'preponderant interest' in the Saudi economy.
The file includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 2).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (338 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 339; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 262-286; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 6/91 'Saudi Arabia. Policy of H.M.G. Qn. of credits and guarantee of assistance to Ibn Saud.' [134r] (268/680), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2163, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100046518047.0x000047> [accessed 4 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2163
- Title
- Coll 6/91 'Saudi Arabia. Policy of H.M.G. Qn. of credits and guarantee of assistance to Ibn Saud.'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:36v, 39r:57v, 59r:110v, 113r:182v, 184r:189v, 191r:310r, 311v:339v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence