مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [ظ‎‎٣‎١‎٨] (٨٠٢/٦٣٧)

10
anti-Saudian enterprise down south, and that King Feisal had addressed a letter
of explanation and apology to Ibn Saud.
Koweit and Bahrein.
189. Further progress was made in May and June in the following up of
the various matters discussed by the Political Resident during his visit to ^
Ibn Saud at Hofuf in January. The question of the best approach to a more
official discussion of the Koweit blockade still presented difficulty, and final
instructions had not reached the Legation up to the end of June. The question of
emergency landing-grounds on the Hasa coast passed into a new phase in the
circumstances described in paragraph 217 below. The position regarding postal
communication between Hasa and the outer world is described in paragraph 172.
The Hejazi Government have not attempted to reopen the question of the status
of their agents at Koweit and Bahrein since receiving the Political Resident's
explanation of the difficulties in the way of recognising them officially. News was
received at Jedda in May of the local settlement of the question arising out of a
fresh intrusion of Ibn Saud’s people into Koweit territory in March, an apology
for which was tendered by the King’s chief frontier officer and accepted by the
sheikh. In June His Majesty’s Minister conveyed to the Acting Minister for
Foreign Affairs a request from Sir H. V. Biscoe that the arrangement made at
Hofuf to enable Hindu traders, known as Bunniahs, to visit Qatif for periods
not exceeding two months, should be extended to Jubail, with permission to
prolong the stay in either case to three months. Ibn Saud agreed to the
prolongation of time, but refused access to Jubail.
190. Sir A. Ryan expressed to Sheikh Yusuf Yasin, on the 5th June, the
gratification with which His Majesty’s Government had received the message
sent by Ibn Saud through the Political Resident (see January-March report,
paragraph 44). This message had not been acknowledged at the time of receipt,
for reasons partly connected with the difficult situation between the Governments
in February and March.
191. Sheikh Yusuf Yasin protested orally on the 23rd June against alleged
action by the Bahrein authorities in requiring, it was said, a cargo of rice for
the Hejazi Government to be landed instead of allowing it to be unloaded direct
into dhows sent from the mainland. This was apparently the first case arising
under the arrangements described in the January-March report, paragraph 49,
which arrangements, according to explanations furnished in a report from the
Political Agent, were more the concern of the shipowners concerned than the
subject of an agreement entered into by him, although he had stated to the British
Indian Steam Navigation Company the point of view of the Bahrein Government
and other interests adversely affected by overside delivery. In the particular case
about which Sheikh Yusuf Yasin protested, it was possible to reply that the rice
had been shipped in the ordinary way of transit, and that no notice had been
given by the steamship company that it was for overside delivery; to refute an
allegation that it had been landed at the instance of the Bahrein authorities
after having been actually first unloaded into dhows from the mainland; and to
add that the Bahrein Government had remitted the duty as an exceptional
measure. The incident, nevertheless, seems to necessitate a further examination
of the somewhat difficult questions of principle involved.
192. Previously to this affair, Fuad Bey Hamza had, on the 11th May,
spoken to Mr. Rendel at the Foreign Office about the more general question of
transit dues at Bahrein, and had spoken of the Hejazi Government’s project of
creating a port of their own at Ras Tanura as being a consequence of the refusal
of the Bahrein authorities to waive duty in the case of goods for Ibn Saud and
his Government. Fuad Bey was told that the matter would be examined.
A sir and Yemen.
193. No development in the relations between Hejaz-Nejd and the Yemen
were reported in May and June; nor anything of importance regarding the
internal situation in Asir, which seemed to be well held. It was stated in June
that the King was undertaking considerable reorganisation of the Asir
administration, and was sending thither some eighty officials, mostly Hejazi,
with a view to making the country productive from a revenue point of view. It is
confirmed that a new Amir, a Nejdi, was recently appointed.