مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [و‎‎٨‎٧] (٨٠٢/١٧٤)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
EASTERN (Arabia).
CONFIDENTIAL.
r
November 24, 1936.
Section 1.
[E 7326/486/25]
Sir R. Bullard to Mr. EaeW
1937 j
‘.—(RyvytlWd November 24.)
Copy No, 1.1 5
(No. 298. Confidential.)
Sir. ^ Jedda, November 1, 1936.
1 HAVE the honour to submit herewith the Jedda report for October 1936.
2 . Copies have been distributed as for the report for July last.
I have, &c.
R. W. BULLARD.
Enclosure 1 .
Jedda Report for October 1936.
I .—Internal Affairs.
329. According to the Mecca press, Ibn Baud returned to Riyadh from
Qasim and Hail on the 24th October. The Amir Feisal, who was visited at
Taif by the Amir of Jauf, Abdul Aziz-al-Sdayri, at the beginning of October, left
for Riyadh soon afterwards.
330. Sheikh Fuad Hamza is still abroad. He is believed to be in Egypt,
where he is perhaps watching the Palestine situation. Sheikh Yusuf Yasin left
for Mecca and thence for Riyadh as soon as the exchange of notes regarding the
Treaty of Jedda had been effected and the date for a simultaneous communique
by the British and Saudi Governments had been fixed. Sheikh Abdullah
Suleiman was authorised to sign documents on behalf of the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, but in a few days he also left for Riyadh, and, it is believed, for a tour of
inspection to Hasa, and the authority to sign was conferred on his brother Sheikh
Hamad Suleiman.
331. Various scraps of news tend to show that the Saudi treasury is not
too full. The consolidated pilgrim tax is slightly higher this year than last
The police, who demanded the arrears of wages (paragraph 303), are said to have
been imprisoned in Mecca and severely beaten. One of the quarantine doctors
at Jedda complained to a European that his pay had been reduced from £37i gold
a month to £20 gold, and his chief’s from £50 gold to £25 gold. A “ medical
aid " stamp of J piastre now has to be affixed to all letters and documents
in addition to the postage and revenue stamps. The 150 cars and lorries
imported by Sharqieh (Limited) this year are all that the Ford Company would
give credit for. The Saudi Government wanted 200 , but the number was cut
down to 150. They had to pay something like cash for eighteen additional cars
which they needed. The first two batches of pilgrims from the Far East have
been subjected to a customs examination of unprecedented rigour, conducted by
the Director of Customs in person, and duty has been charged on articles and
small quantities of food such as had hitherto escaped assessment,
332. A rumour that a Registration Department is to be set up in Mecca
and is to make a census of the male population has inevitably led to the general
belief that conscription will follow. At present the small' regular forces are
employed in the towns upon what are little more than police duties, and it is
unlikely, even if Ibn Saud could afford to maintain a considerable regular army,
that it could ever take the place of the tribal levies which won victories for him
against Hamid-bin-Rifada and Feisal-ad-Dawish and the Imam of the Yemen.
333. The “ Arab Saving and Economy Company,” to whose mysterious
activities reference was made in paragraph 243, is declared by the Saut-ul-Hejaz
to be making suits of clothes at the rate of 90-100 a day and to be employing
about sixty workmen. This clothing appears to be part oi a contract for army
8920 [856 aa—1] B