مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [ظ‎‎٦‎٣] (٨٠٢/١٢٧)

when they come to the Hejaz, and if the money was not taken from them in one
way it would be taken in another. Direct collection of money for Ibn Sand’s
pistachio nuts would arouse criticism, hut these discreeter methods of increasing
the revenues of the country are not likely to arouse objection. •
/ 2 . The Moslem Bank of India (Limited), whose head office is at Lahore,
have applied to Ibn Baud for permission to open a branch at Jedda or Mecca
for the convenience of Indian pilgrims, and have mentioned by way of testimonial
that the proposal has been welcomed by Ismail Ghaznavi. Ihn Saud would
probably look with some suspicion at a financial establishment recommended by
this shifty if useful intriguer, and in any case he will not be impressed by the
resources of a bank whose chairman and secretary ask him for a free trip to Mecca
for the purpose of dismissing the foundation of a branch in his realm.
73. Rumours are afloat that the Minister of Finance, Sheikh Abdullah
Sulaiman, and Tar at Pasha Harb have concocted a scheme whereby the Banque
Misr would become the Saudi State bank, issuing notes, holding all sums collected
as revenue, paying the officials, and so on. The rumours are not confirmed from
any authentic source, nor does it seem likely that any bank of experience would
care to keep for the Saudi Government an account which would probably be
permanently overdrawn.
74. The prospecting party sent northwards by the Petroleum Development
(Western Arabia) (Limited) has not yet seen anything that would suggest the
presence of oil. It is now moving still farther north, towards Akaba. The
southern party is on its way back, and the Jedda manager of the company fears
that this early return foreshadows a pessimistic report from that section also.
75. The press reports the construction of short-wave wireless telegraph
stations at A1 Hafr, near Koweit, and at Liniya [ ?] on the Iraqi pilgrim road.
II. —Frentier Questions and Foreign Relations in A rabia.
76. On the 1 st February His Majesty’s Legation received a written protest
from the Saudi Government against an alleged encroachment on Saudi territory
by a Transjordan patrol. The incident, if it ever happened, seemed so trivial,
and the adoption of the written protest as a method of dealing with it seemed
in such striking contrast with the assurance given by Sheikh Fuad to His
Majesty’s Minister a few weeks before, that the Saudi Government had by no
means abandoned the method of direct co-operation provided for in the
Bon-Voisinage Agreement of 1933, that His Majesty’s Minister felt entitled to
inform the Minister for Foreign Affairs that, before he sent on the protest for
enquiry, he would be glad to be informed whether the Saudi frontier officials had
tried to settle the matter with the officials on the Transjordan side of the frontier.
No reply has been received, and there is some ground for hope that the complaint
will not be heard of again.
77. Three sons of the King of the Yemen, Abdullah, Husain and Qasim,
came on the pilgrimage. As they arrived without notice it was thought at first
that they might have come without their father’s permission, but it seems that
he wished the journey to be considered as a religious and not an official one. They
were, however, received in Mecca by Ibn Saud with Royal honours. Saiyid
Abdullah-al-Wazir, Governor of the Tihama, with his brother Muhammad and
several other prominent Yemenis, also came on the pilgrimage.
77a. Mr. Philby was interested to hear that the King of the Yemen had
complained that he had visited Jauf and Marib. He said that he had not, in
fact, visited Marib, but had taken photographs and bearings from a height
overlooking it, but he did not reply to a question whether the height itself was
in Yemen territory. A report which must be based on statements by Colonel
Depui, honorary Belgian consul at Sana and Jedda, represents the King of the
Yemen as prepared to throw himself into the arms of His Majesty’s Government,
to escape the proffered Italian embrace, if only the Palestine question could be
settled in a manner satisfactory to the Arabs.
78. We learn from the Aden Weekly Summary that Saiyid Abdullah-al-
Wazir reports the settlement of all difficulties which had arisen out of the
Yemen-Saudi frontier delimitation.
79. The Saut-al-Hejaz reports the arrival “for the pilgrimage and to
present compliments to His Majesty King Abdul Aziz ” of “ the Syrian leaders,”
Saiyid Amin-al-Husaini, the Mufti for Palestine and President of the Moslem
Higher Committee, and four others, who were “ received with honour and