مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [ظ‎‎٣‎٣‎٢] (٨٠٢/٦٦٥)

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South (A sir).
86. Reference to tribal unrest has been made in paragraph 51, but the
frontier appears to have been quiet. The Nejdi reinforcements sent to Jizan
last September (Septernber-October report, paragraph 45) returned in March
by sea, in dhows.
Chapter VI .—Naval Matters.
87. Lieut-Commander A. R. Farquhar, D.S.C., R.N., visited Jedda in
H.M.S. “ Penzance " on the 28th January. The visit happened to coincide
with the manumission by the Legation of a slave claimed by Ibn Saud and
proved most timely for his embarkation, under somewhat unusual circumstances,
and repatriation to Africa (see chapter VIII). His Majesty’s Minister left
Jedda on the 2nd February in H.M.S. “Penzance” for Port Sudan, on his
way to Jerusalem.
88. The French despatch-vessel “ Dunkerque ” visited Jedda from the 24th
to the 28th March, after paying short visits to Wejh and Yanbu.
89. The Italian minelayer “ Azio ’ visited Jedda from the 9th to the
11th February, for the occasion of the signing of the Italo-Hejazi treaty.
Chapter VII.— Pilgrimage.
G eneral.
90. By the end of March some 20,000 pilgrims had landed at Jedda, of
whom 8,000 were Indians. Pilgrimage Day was due to fall on Friday, the 15th
April, and another 5,000 oversea pilgrims were expected to arrive for it. Last
year’s figures were 40,000 in all from oversea.
Indian.
91. Hejazis live on Indians, amongst others. They felt the pinch of a
lean season last year and their appetite has recently been sharp. The Hejazi
Government have equally suffered the pinch and their practice has become all
the sharper. They are an unpleasant species at the best of times; but when,
as during the past three months, they begin to make their annual meal in lairs
which they call the Holy Sanctuaries, they offend the senses and exercise the
mind of/interested observers.
92. Last summer they published an official tariff of dues for the 1932
pilgrimage which advertised a reduction of mutawwifs’ fees. It was scaled in $
piastres and rupees. They broadcast it through India and beyond in a propa
ganda pamphlet, entitled “Friday Pilgrimage,” promising the fall of Hajj Day
on Friday, the 15th April, with consequential sevenfold blessing that day upon
God’s Guests. (It may be noted in parenthesis that it was not the Prophet but
the shop and lodging-house keepers of Mecca who invented this windfall, 200
years later.) Indian pilgrims were thus led to believe that the 1932 pilgrimage
would cost less than that of 1931 and be seven times as valuable. This was good
business.
93. On the basis of the official tariff and other necessary expenditure in the
Hejaz, the Legation estimated the total cost of pilgrimage in 1932 to be not less
than 800 rupees, and the Government of India were so informed. When the
sterling and rupee left gold in the autumn, however, the Hejazi Government
made no sign. They maintained a fictitious “official ” parity with gold, but in
practice the Saudi riyal, which contains 11 Miri piastres, had long ago parted
from gold, and stood at the end of 1931 at 17J to the £ gold, parity being 10.
There were thus grounds for belief that pilgrims would be able to buy piastres
at the market rate and that fees scaled in rupees would be accepted in rupees.
But as soon as the first Indian pilgrims landed at Jedda on the 30th December
they found that they were charged all dues and fees, including those in rupees,
on a gold basis, and were also charged for items which did not figure in the
official tariffs at all. They found, in effect, that expenses in the Hejaz were some
40 per cent, higher this year than last. The majority held quite insufficient
funds.
94. There followed a series of representations by the Legation and of
dilatory, evasive and contradictory statements by the Hejazi Government.