مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [و‎‎١‎٠‎٥] (٨٠٢/٢١٠)

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followed on the 27th May. Both gentlemen hoped, if successiui, to maiket the
concession to Petroleum Concessions (Limited), a new concern formed under tne
auspices of the Iraq Petroleum Company and practically identical with it in
composition. Petroleum Concessions (Limited) have now, however, decided to
send out a representative of their own. INot one, but two, h renchmen, said o
^ represent the Societe francaise des Petroles, arrived on the 2 nd May in the icnc i
sloop Bougainville, and have the backing of the French Government tor a con
cession in the Farsan Islands. They are still here, but Ibn Saud professes giea
eagerness to do business with British interests or, failing an all-British concern,
with the Iraq Petroleum Company group.
172. The California-Arabian Standard Oil Company has made turther
progress in Hasa. Well No. 2, which had reached a depth ol 2,175 teet about the
middle of May, is yielding about sixty barrels an hour of what is said to be an oil
of unusually high quality. • at n
173. Some progress has been made with the urban developments in Mecca and
Jedda (paragraph 55 of the report for February). Mecca is said now to possess
a beautiful and prolific public garden, made by the Minister ol Finance, with the
help of Indian experts and money. The large space between the custom-house in
Jedda and the town is being actively laid out as a square, which will be overlooked
by the house of the Minister of Finance, a Treasury office, which is under construc
tion, and the house now occupied by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
174. Minor economic items must again be passed over, but mention may be
made of the grandiosely named “ Arab Press and Publications Company
(Limited),” formed about a year ago with a capital of 22,000 Saudi piastres, half
paid up. The company published its first report on the 28th April, showing a
handsome profit, but the shareholders were asked to pa.y up the other moiety and a
new issue was to be made, all with the object of buying one new printing-press.
The principal business is the production of the Saut-al-Hejaz newspaper.
175. The long-awaited X-ray plant for use in Mecca arrived early in May.
As regards the provision of expert personnel, see paragraph 191 below.
II.— Frontier' Questions and Foreign Relations in Arabia.
176. Little need be said about Saudi-Iraq relations in view of the lull which
has followed the conclusion of the Saudi-Iraq Treaty (paragraph 140 ff. of the
last report). The Legation received in May from His Majesty s Embassy in
Bagdad the text of an agreement, previously unknown to it, regarding the
exchange of wireless messages between Iraq and Saudi Arabia {cf. para
graph 126 of the report for April 1935). The agreement was signed in Bagdad
on the 6 th October, 1935, and was presumably completed subsequently in Mecca.
It was to come into force on the 14th October.
177. An amusing story came from Ashaira early in the month. 1 he King,
it was said, produced an astrological prophecy of the deaths of the Kings of Egypt
and the Yemen within the year. Having seen this half fulfilled, he spoke with
great friendship of the Imam Yahya, whose demise he would regret; but he is
stated to have expressed indiscreet joy at that of the late King Fuad and to have
consigned him confidently to eternal perdition. Meanwhile, the King of the
Yemen is reported to have despatched presents of horses for Ibn Saud and the
Saudi princes.
178. There are few signs of any active general interest in the Hejaz in the
situation in Palestine. A belated mention may be made of a confidential con
versation between Sheikh Yusuf Yasin and His Majesty s Minister on the
29th April, when the former produced a telegram from Haj Amin Huseini to
Ibn Saud informing him of the Arab strike in Palestine and invoking his help for
the Arab cause there. Sir Andrew Ryan urged the importance of no action being
taken by the King, which might excite hopes of his concerning himself with the
affairs of Palestine.
179. The Koweit proposals (paragraph 145 of the last report) had not
reached Jedda up to the end of May.
180. Attention has been drawn to a mistake in paragraph 75 of the report
for February, in which it was stated that two sons of the Sheikh of Bahrein had
come on pilgrimage this year. The party, in fact, consisted of the widow of the
present sheikh’s father accompanied by two second cousins of the sheikh.