مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [و‎‎٢‎٠‎١] (٨٠٢/٤٠٢)

3
ment by the Saudi Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Sheikh Yusuf Yasin later took
up with His Majesty’s Charge d'Affaires several minor matters the Saudi Govern
ment desired brought to the notice of the Transjordan authorities, as, for example,
the alleged infraction of the frontier by shooting-parties from Transjordan, and
the grazing of camels owned by the Transjordan authorities on the Saudi side of
the boundary.
201. There has been a breeze in the Iraqi-Saudi relations. The Iraq
Government on the 4th August complained to the Saudi Government, through
their Charge d’Affaires here, of the Saudi Charge d’Affaires in Bagdad,
Ibrahim-bin-Muammar, on the grounds of subversive activities at Kerbela and
Najaf, propaganda for Ibn Saud as King of all Arabia, and the publishing of
articles in the Iraqi press containing disparaging remarks about Amir Abdullah.
The note, in which this complaint was formulated, demanded the recall of the
Saudi Charge. Apparently the heavy-handed and over-emphatic manner in which
this note was followed up by the Iraqi Charge stung Ibn Saud into a heated reply.
Cooler counsels led the King to seek the advice of His Majesty’s Government,
Sheikh Yusuf Yasin interviewing Mr. Calvert on the 5th, when he recounted a
number of Saudi grievances against Iraq, and stated his Government would be
obliged to ask for the recall of the Iraqi representative if the Iraqi Government
persisted in their demand for the recall of Ibrahim-bin-Muammar. It was later
understood from Bagdad that the excess and maladroitness of the Iraqi Charge
here were recognised by his own Government, and a mollifying communication
was to be addressed to the Saudi Government. Nothing further has since been
heard. The breeze appears to have dropped.
III.— Relations with Powers outside Arabia.
202. The Saudi Government are unable to be represented at the forthcoming j
Locust Conference to be held in London, and so informed the Legation, through/
whom the invitation had been extended, towards the end of the month.
203. From brief references in the Egyptian press it is gathered that a note
has been received from the Saudi Government dealing with a number of matters
of mutual concern. These are said to include the question of the Holy Carpet,
the problem of religious endowments, and the vexed question of nationality.
204. The Egyptian consul, Hafez Bey Amer, at present on leave, has been
transferred to Bagdad as second secretary in the Egyptian Legation there. He is
to be succeeded here by Abdul Hamid Munir Effendi, transferred from Madrid.
IV .—M iscellaneous.
205. H.M.S. Hastings (Captain the Hon. C. P. Hermon-Hodge, D.S.C.,
R.N.) visited Jedda from the 2nd to the 6th August. This was the sloop’s first
visit here since being recommissioned. A much-reduced British colony joined
men from the ship in a practice game of cricket in an almost noon-day sun
on the 5th.
206. Mr. W. E. Blackball, of the Sudan Government Cables, arrived on the
10th with two assistants from Port Sudan to examine the Jedda end of the cable.
After a brief examination he is understood to have formed the opinion that the
cable had been fouled by the anchor of the Saudi ship Nasr. He left on the 12th,
but is expected to return later on.
207. M. van de Poll, the Dutch Moslem, passed through Jedda on the 16th
from Medina to Mecca and Taif. He drove himself in an open car, clad in
“ ihram ” and bareheaded, through the heat of the day.
208. August passes unmourned. The weather closed in even more stiflingly
and clammily °than in August of last year (see paragraph 190 of the report for
that month).
209. The British Museum, to whom Mr. Philby for some time past has been
sending specimens of the wild life of Arabia, announce the classification of an
entirely new species of Red-legged Partridge {Alectonns), with a black throat and
a light grey head. The identification of a further dozen or so sub-species of
various kinds is also claimed.