"ملف 61/11 V (D 95) مسائل متنوعة خاصة بالحجاز ونجد" [و‎‎١‎٦‎٨] (٥٣٠/٣٥٢)

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T HIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJEST Y'S GOVERNMENT
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EASTERN (A rabia ). |V pj£ "■siptNG Y, j May 17, 1933.
CONFIDENTIAL. flH S ection 1.
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Sir John Simon to Sir A. Ryan (Jedda).
(No. 124.)
Sir, Foreign Office, May 17, 1933.
WITH reference to your despatch No. 289 of the 16th July, 1931, I have to
inform you that the question of the possible entry of Saudi Arabia into the League
of Nations has been under further consideration.
2. On the 3rd March the Saudi Arabian Minister referred to this subject
in a conversation with Sir L. Oliphant, and requested the views and advice of
His Majesty's Government. The following points were raised in the ensuing
discussion :—
(a) The Hejaz had originally come within the wording of article 1 of the
Covenant of the League, which runs as follows : " The original
members of the League of Nations shall be those of the signatories
which are named in the annex to this Covenant''; but the name had
completely disappeared from the title of Ibn Sand's present
dominions, and it therefore seemed that, if at any time Saudi Arabia
were to ask for admission to the League, this request would have to
come as from a new country. The Minister entirely agreed in this
view, and saw no objection to such a procedure.
(b) The League of Nations requires to be satisfied that an applicant State
has established and well-defined frontiers. Sir L. Oliphant referred
to the settlement which was reported to have been reached between
King Ibn Saud and the Imam of the Yemen as to the Asir-Yemen
frontier, but expressed some doubt whether this and the provisional
nature of the frontier with Transjordan would be adequate to satisfy
the League. Sheikh Hafiz Wahba replied that the Asir-Yemen
frontier was not entirely fixed, but the differences were of a very minor
character, and he did not anticipate trouble from them.
{c) Continuance of slavery might be severely criticised at Geneva. The
Minister at once appealed to the precedent of Abyssinia, and added
that he himself had raised this possible difficulty with King Ibn Saud,.
who felt that, if his country were a member of the League, the League
might help him in the matter of anti-slavery measures.
3. The Minister said that, above all, he wished to avoid a situation in
li, which, when Saudi Arabia had applied for membership of the League, her
request should be rejected. He was certain, however, that if His Majesty's
Government were to champion the Saudi cause, the candidate whom they
supported would be successful. It was explained to him that the result of any
application for League membership could never be regarded as certain before
hand, and that His Majesty's Government rarely, if ever, promised their support
to a candidate in advance.
4. On the 11th May Sir L. Oliphant received a further visit from Sheikh
Hafiz Wahba, who on this occasion stated that, while the Saudi Government did
not wish to ask for a definite promise of support from His Majesty's Government,
they would be glad to know whether an application by Saudi Arabia for member
ship of the League of Nations would be favourably viewed by His Majesty's
Government. He was again referred to the objections stated in (b) and (c) of the
preceding paragraph, and, as he had only raised the question in an entirely
informal manner, agreed not to press for an immediate answer.
5. In the light of these two interviews the arguments both in favour of
and against the admission of Saudi Arabia into the League have again been
considered. Two of the objections which were originally seen to the Saudi
candidature and which were set out in paragraphs 3 to 5 of Mr. Arthur
Henderson's despatch No. 137 of the 8th April, 1931, still remain valid. Saudi
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