File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [‎186r] (376/898)

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feLrofe^rins^nto TOmpetSon with thlS wiD set aside the baseless
to have been their restS ^ Hr, owV^ f ssoolated companies which so far seems
^ ^ the lf - of the haras^d
19. The return of Mr. Philby has now been postponed, on account of serious
illness, until the end of November. I understand that he may be accompanied by h s
wife, m which case it remains to be seen whether, in view of his public references
to the ill success of his marriage Mr. Philby will be able to preserve that secrecy
as to his activities m Jeddah which has led him to forbid his unfortunate employees
to associate with the other resident Europeans.
20. If, however, we have lost a month of Mr. Philby’s company, the balance
has been somewhat adjusted by the arrival of Dr. van der Hoog, a Dutch bacterio
logist, formerly director of the Public Health Department in the Dutch West
Indies. Dr. van der Hoog, who is the second European to be employed by the Heiaz
Government in a professional capacity, is now installed with his twenty-eight cases
of equipment m the public hospital at the Mecca Gate, where he daily practises his
black arts of incubation, vaccination and inoculation. He expects to remain a year,
and in that time to complete the instruction of the two Syrian hospital doctors.
In the meantime, his smooth shaven face, refreshingly clean looking after the
shagginess common to other Europeans here, and his extensive English vocabulary,
highly coarse, are here for our profit.
21. Among the departures must be noted that of the French vice-consul at
Mecca, who has returned to his native Algeria, while the new arrivals include
Mazhar Aboul Ez, Egyptian vice-consul, formerly at Jerusalem. M. Mazhar has
come to take charge of the Egyptian consulate during the forthcoming absence on
leave of Amin Tewfik Bey. I gather, however, that Amin Bey has had his fill of
Jeddah and intends to make a serious effort to change its delights for those of
Manchester.
22. The only other nKwement of note was the departure of the head of the
Turkish Diplomatic Mission to the Hejaz. Suleiman Cherket Bey, who left on the
10th October, on his nomination to the Turkish National Assembly as representative
of a place he had never heard of and could not find on the map, was an agreeable if
very guarded colleague with a weakness for the title “Excellence.” He leaves his
diplomatic mission, appropriately enough in the land of Mahomet, suspended in
mid-air, and the representative of Turkish interests in the hands of an assistant of
indeterminate status.
23. Apart from securing for his Government one of the airiest houses in
Jeddah, it is difficult to determine what exactly Cherket Bey achieved during his
stay here. I know he urged the Italian consul to press his Government to recognise
Ibn Saud so as to counteract British influence in the Hejaz. I am also informed
that a Senussi who had been refused a visa by the Italian consul was supplied by him
with a Turkish passport. Otherwise he seems to have concentrated his efforts on
increasing Turco-Bolshevik intimacy. It is true that the present “charge” of the
Bolshevik agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. has been thrown on the Turks by the fact that he does not speak
the language of any of the other foreign representatives. Nevertheless, the bond is
obviously greater than a social one, and the arrival of the steamship “ Tomp,” which
carries the first Russian pilgrims and is said to be bringing to Jeddah a Turkish
trade exhibition (apparently of tinned fruits, vegetables and sweetmeats), is awaited
with interest not unmingled, in many quarters, with concern.
24. The disfavour with which the Turks are viewed in official eyes has found
recent expression in the summary dismissal of the Turkish Director of the Quarantine
and his assistant.
25. The Rolls-Royce cabriolet ordered for Ibn Saud having at last arrived has
been taken to Mecca, where it will doubtless be used by such Ministers as dare until
the return of His Majesty six months hence. The appearance in the Hejaz o. this
car, expensive and handsome though it may be, does not, however, compensate for the
rapidly diminishing British share in car imports. One can only hope that as a Royol
car the Rolls may be spared that treatment which has driven other British cars irom
the field of competition.
26. Some doubt is now entertained as to what is to happen to the two steam
rollers when they arrive. If they are put to repairing the Mecca road, expert opinion
anticipates that they will sink in the sand and stay there. Stone for road making