مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [و‎‎١‎٩‎٣] (٨٠٢/٣٨٦)

[256 t—1] B 2
3
displayed in the publication during the month of comprehensive regulations
against infectious diseases. These regulations are, in themselves, probably
blameless and not to be discouraged, but they lack reality in the almost entire
absence of reasonably equipped hospitals, clinics, isolation wards, laboratories.
X-ray departments with qualified staffs, all of which are implied in the
regulations, as well as the money and the knowledge to establish an even modestly
ambitious health organisation.
245. The Saudi Government recently announced their adhesion to the
International Sanitary Convention of 1926, but with reservations in respect of a
number of articles. The first pilgrim ship for the 1935 Haj arrived on the
31st October (see paragraph 258), and no change in established procedure was
reported, but the attitude of the Saudi authorities is being watched, and
meanwhile the question as to whether this declaration with reservations
constitutes a ratification has been referred to His Majesty’s Government.
246. A Wapiti plane was flown from Taif to Jedda on the 27th October,
and was still here at the end of the month, though it was rumoured it was
intended to be used against the malcontents of Teima.
247. The general economic condition of the country is still as grave as last
year. Military expenditure has much more than offset increased revenues from
last year’s pilgrimage; officials during the past six months have received less
than one-third of their salaries; trade is stagnant and old stocks unliquidated;
mendicancy is increasing, and the food and clothing now being distributed as
charity in the name of the King are totally inadequate to alleviate the distress.
There are certain hopes, perhaps still premature, of a further increase in the
number of pilgrims in 1935—it is to be hoped that such optimism is well founded.
248. The following appointments have appeared in the Saut-al-Hejaz
during the month :—
Sheikh Ahmad-al-Isa as Amir of Yanbu; Sheikh Mansur-as-Saleh-
ash-Shahqa as Amir of Wejh; Sheikh Ibrahim-an-Neshmi as Amir of
Turaba; and Sheikh Hasan Ibn Duqaithar as Amir of Ranva.
II .—Frontier Questions and Foreign Relations in Arabia.
249. (Reference paragraph 226 of last month’s report.) Abdul Aziz Ibn
Zeyd. the Saudi frontier official, left the Qarriyyat on the 3rd October intending
to get into direct touch with his opposite number in Transjordan before crossing
the frontier on his way to the Palmyra Conference. The Umm-al-Qura later
published a short article describing the conference, which was to be attended by
representatives of Iraq. Syria and Saudi Arabia, as having been arranged in
order to deal with claims of the tribes of those countries in respect of loot.
250. On the 4th October the Saudi Government officially protested against
an alleged violation of Saudi territory by two aeroplanes and a number of armed
soldiers of the Transjordan Camel Corps at Thaniya Tarif north of Fajr. The
note, which affirmed that the place mentioned was within Saudi Arabia,
demanded indemnification and that measures be taken to prevent a recurrence of
so manifest an aggression. His Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires replied on the 13th.
under direction, that the Saudi Government probably referred to the presence on
the 23rd September at Shaib Thaniyya Tarais of an armoured car and two
aircraft in the course of their patrol on the regular Transjordan frontier patrol
car track, and pointed out that if so, patrols along this track had been carried
out as a matter of routine for the past three years, and that the car track on
which Shaib Thaniyya Tarais is situated is not in Saudi Arabia but in
Transjordan territory. No further exchange had taken place at the end of
the month.
251. A further frontier incident threatened, but in the event passed off
happily, about the same time when three Moth civil aeroplanes of the Bombay
Flying Club lost their way flying from Bagdad to Basra and landed in the desert
near Ansab at the western corner of the Saudi-Iraq Neutral Zone. Royal Ai>-
Force machines from Basra and armoured cars were used in prosecuting a
vigorous search, which appeared almost certain to result in infraction of & the
Saudi frontier. The Saudi Government, however, played up extremely well
Amir Feisal, to whom His Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires telephoned in the first
place, ordering the Amirs of Hail and El Hasa to send cars to help in the search