مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [ظ‎‎٦‎٧] (٨٠٢/١٣٥)

Syndicate (paragraph 407 of 1936) partly in gold. Yet by some unfathomable
means the riyal is pretty steady, in spite of the presence of large numbers of
pilgrims. The shortage of small change, however, is so acute that it sometimes
costs 2 piastres out of 22 to change a riyal. Apart from the seasonal demand
resulting from the pilgrimage, there will presently be a regular demand from
the Saudi Arabian Mining Syndicate, who expect to need 30,000 riyals a month
for wages soon, and from Petroleum Development (Western Arabia) Ltd., who, if
they find oil, will need nearly as much.
8 . Collections for the piastre scheme, which was mentioned in paragraph 243
of 1936, continue. A 1 -piastre stamp has been produced for the purpose,
though care has been taken to make it clear that it is only the minimum sub
scription which is 1 piastre, not the maximum. The stamp indicates by a rather
crowded picture some of the objects of the fund : smoking factory chimneys and
an anvil represent industry, palm trees agriculture, and a three-funnelled steamer
that Saudi merchant navy which is to be created. The details of the scheme are
vague, but the collection of money is quite definite. Pilgrims are badgered to
subscribe to the fund, and when they leave Medina for Jedda or Mecca the
authorities, who collect from them 1 piastre as municipal tax, also collect, as
though it too were a tax, a piastre for the piastre scheme.
9. Ibn Saud’s Indian chauffeur claims to have been granted a concession
for a motor transport service from Uqair to Mecca, and to have secured adequate
financial support from leading Saudi officials and others. He says that he has
concluded an arrangement with a Swedish company for the supply of motor
vehicles (nothing whatever remains to be settled except the terms of payment),
and that Messrs. Thomas Cook have agreed to take the agency for India for the
company to be formed, though they appear to doubt (with some reason) whether
the Government of India would approve the booking of pilgrims from India by
that route. Ibn Saud’s aim is assumed to be a desire to establish a land route
lying wholly in Saudi territory.
10 . Nine of the “eagles” have been receiving further instruction in flying
this month. The Italian pilot has been using two of the Italian instructional
machines for this purpose (the third is at Taif, a complete wreck), and the Russian
pilot the French monoplane (paragraph 84 of 1936). One of the ten has left the
country and abandoned flying for good. Some reports say that he would never
have made a pilot, others that he was seen eating during the daytime in Ramadan,
but the possibility that he was both incompetent and impious is not excluded. It
is believed that a fresh batch of about fifteen young Saudis will begin training
as aviators soon, and that spares have been ordered to enable the Wapitis to be
repaired for use as training machines. In fact, the indications are that no more
Saudis are to be sent to Italy for training. But the training of students here
is not without its difficulties. Perhaps the chief is the inability of the authorities
concerned to realise that you cannot learn to fly without using petrol, oil and other
stores, and they cannot face the expense of regular practice. The latest issue of
the Umm-al-Qura contains two statements which accord ill together. One
describes the Saudi pilots as returning from abroad with certificates as military
pilots, and the other considers it a subject for boasting that four of these pilots
have made flights of a quarter of an hour over Mecca. The handsome Italian
hangar is approaching completion, but the Caproni aeroplane still does nothing;
two of the three carburettors are broken, and spares are awaited. The other two
Capronis, according to the Italian Legation, will not be sent until the hangar is
readv to protect them from the exposure to which all other Saudi aeroplanes have
hitherto been subjected.
11 . The Arab Aviation Society which had been collecting subscriptions for
some time published an appeal to pilgrims to subscribe to this fund
for encouraging the art of aviation and teaching it to the sons of the holy places,
the homeland of Islam, the object of the hopes of all Moslems. The appeal
describes aviation as one of the greatest arts for the defence of one's fatherland,
and reminds the pilgrim that his fatherland is the Holy Land of the Hejaz. A
later notice says that one of the most important aims of the society had been to
purchase machines for the members of the mission who had returned from Europe
with military flying certificates, but finding that the Government had already
provided the aeroplanes for that purpose they decided to participate in the
encouragement of aviation in another way, viz., by handing over to the Govern
ment the sum of £E. 1,500 already collected, to assist the Government's project to
build a scientific hangar on the Jedda aerodrome. It will puzzle the Italians to