مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [و‎‎٢‎٩‎٩] (٨٠٢/٥٩٨)

7
Soviet Russia.
314. In spite of a series of conversations held in Jedda in October between
the Soviet Minister and the Saudi Minister of Finance supported by
Fuad Bey Hamza, no substantial progress seems to have been achieved towards a
Soviet loan or facilities for Soviet trade. It is thought that M. Turacoulov has
^ been made to press more insistently than he would have liked for payment for
the Soviet benzine supplied in 1931.
Turkey.
315. The Saudi Arab Government are arranging to send a mission to
Turkey to receive military and aeronautical instruction and a press notice issued
on the 16th September called for volunteers. On the 10th October the Turkish
Ambassador in London informed the Secretary of State that his Government were
on the point of sending two Turkish officers to Ibn Saud with 100 rifles and two
mitrailleuses, ordered by the Amir Feisal when at Angora last June, but no
ammunition. They would also inspect and repair some cannon dating from the
Ottoman occupation. Ferit Bey apparently made no mention of the mission
{cf. paragraph 65).
Iraq.
316. Frontier relations are mentioned in paragraph 302.
317. On the occasion of Iraq’s entry into the League of Nations Ibn Saud
telegraphed to King Feisal that he shared his brother’s and the Iraq nation s
delight and pleasure. An equally warm response was wirelessed back.
318. The Iraqi Charge d’Affaires elect seems unready to come to Jedda.
One of the first questions which he will have to tackle is an apparent usurpation
by the Saudi Government of the revenues of all Hashimite properties in the
Hejaz.
IV.— Air Matters.
Saudi A rob A ir Force.
319. There has been no response to the memorandum regarding a possible
Royal Air Force mission which was handed to Fuad Bey Hamza on the
11th August (vide paragraph 270), but, as described in paragraph 315, prepara
tions are being made to send a Saudi Arab mission to Turkey for instruction.
Emergency Landing Grounds.
320. Imperial Airways began on the 1st October to use the Arabian instead
of the Persian Coast for their eastern airway. No arrangements had by then A
been made for placing at their disposal the emergency landing grounds discussed
in May (vide paragraph 217), nor had the Air Ministry’s statement of desiderata
been received at the Legation by the end of October.
321. His Majesty’s High Commissioner for Iraq telegraphed to His
Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires on the 26th September the information that on the
10th September a Rangoon flying-boat had forced-landed at Jinna through
engine trouble, but that spares had been flown to it the following day, enabling
it to proceed to Bahrein. Owing to the lapse of time the Saudi Government were
not informed, nor have they remarked on the matter.
V.— Military Matters.
Military Mission.
322. The proposed despatch of a military mission to Turkey for instructions
and the expected arrival of two Turkish officers with arms for Ibn Saud have been
noted in paragraph 315.
General.
323. The aftermath of the rebellion is reported in paragraph 298. By
October all the Akhwan levies collected in the Northern Hejaz and at Taif to deal
with Ibn Rifada and any concurrent trouble seem to have dispersed into Nejd.