مجموعة ٦/ ١٩ "الجزيرة العربية: (المملكة العربية السعودية) التقرير السنوي لمملكة الحجاز ونجد." [ظ‎‎١‎٨‎٥] (٥٤٠/٣٧١)

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66. Sheikh Hafiz Wahba continued to represent the Saudi Government in
London until November, when he went on leave. He was rather more in evidence
in diplomatic intercourse than he had previously been, and he exercised a valuable
moderating influence in connexion with the incident arising out of the
manumission of the slave Bakhit.
France and Syria.
67. Little is known of what passed between the Amir Feisal’s mission and
the French Government, except that the latter seem to have firmly discouraged a
Saudi suggestion that the Alexandria Quarantine Board ought not to concern
itself with the pilgrimage. The mission lunched with M. Doumer on the day of
his assassination, and Fuad Bey interrupted his stay in London to fly to Paris
for the funeral.
68. Ratifications w~ere exchanged in Jedda on the 24th June of the Treaty
of Friendship between France and Saudi Arabia and the separate convention in
regard to Syria and the Lebanon, both of which had been signed on the
10th November, 1931. The texts were published in the Mecca paper Umm-al-Qura
on the 12th August. The effect of the General Treaty was generally similar to
. that of the Anglo-Saudi Treaty of Jedda. As had been foreseen, there was no
I article about the slave trade. In certain respects the French appeared to have
I obtained more than Sir G. Clayton, e.y., a most-favoured-nation clause. The
treaty was for ten years, to be prolonged for a similar period, failing express
denunciation. The convention in regard to Syria and the Lebanon proved to be
not, as had been supposed, a commercial agreement, but a more general instrument
in three parts, the first of which was broadly on the same lines as the General
Treaty with France. The second dealt with tribal matters. The third reserved
commercial and economic matters for further negotiation, but general rules were
laid down regarding the caravan trade and the non-collection of dues by tribal
chiefs. This convention was for seven years, after which it may be denounced at
six months’ notice at any time.
69. Ihe Irench Charge d’Affaires had to occupy himself in the early
summer with the case of a small vessel under the French flag which was arrested
on suspicion at Wejh in the first stages of the Ibn Rifada affair. He got little
satisfaction, but the vessel was eventually brought to Jedda and released.
70. M. Maigret visited Taif from the 13th to 15th August, an event
remarkable in the recent history of the Corps diplomatique of Jedda, as no other
non-Moslem foreign representative has been allowed to go there under Ibn Saud’s
regime. It may be mentioned in this connexion that the Saudi Government are
understood to have laid down general rules regarding visits to Taif by members
° u -°i reign 1 I ^ lsslons ’ whether Moslem or non-Moslem, the strict enforcement of
which would amount to a temporary deprivation of diplomatic privilege and
71. M. Maigret’s visit to Taif excited curiositv nnd cmv A n OA In loin n-P
*
Italy.