مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [ظ‎‎٣‎٤‎٢] (٨٠٢/٦٨٥)

II. —Frontier Questions.
Raiding. Transjordan.
32. The Hejazi Government have lately complained of the five following ^
raids, said to have been made from Transjordan into Nejd in December :—
On the 1st December at Kalakh, twenty-five camels taken;
On the 2nd December at Ra jm-an-Naam, sixteen camels taken;
On the 8th December near Shinam, sixty camels taken;
On the 8th December at Ar Rajaa, twenty-five camels taken;
On the 14th December at Mudhaibia, a caravan taken and two men killed.
No raid was complained of on the Transjordan side of the frontier during
November and December.
33. Repercussions from the raid of the 28th September at Haj (not Hazim,
nor Hazm) engaged attention. On the 2nd December the Hejazi Minister for
Foreign Affairs stated categorically that the victims, the Atun section of the
Huweytat. were subjects of Ibn Saud. The Transjordan authorities, however,
claimed them as Transjordan subjects, and during the rest of the month past
correspondence was examined in an attempt to settle the question, but without
final result.
Glubb-Ibn Zeid Meetings.
34. No meeting was held, but preparations were made to hold one early in
January.
MacDonnell Investigation.
33. On the 28th November the Hejazi Government replied in these words
to His Majesty's Charge d'Affaires' request of the 6th October for the payment
of the Hejazi share of the costs of the investigation :—
“ The agreement, in accordance with the terms of which the arbitration
took place, contained the proviso that each party should bear the expenses
of the arbitration in proportion to the judgment given against it, but there
was no ruling to meet the case of no judgment being given against either
party My Government are surprised that they should be requested
to pay half the expenses of the arbitration, when they have experienced heavy
loss as a result of the reduction of the claims of their subjects.”
This Semitic calculation on an arbitral award, which held that the claims of
both sides cancelled each other out, was transmitted to His Majesty’s Government
on the 1st December, and when Mr. Hope Gill had occasion, during a telephone
conversation with Fuad Bey later in the month, to refer to it in appropriate terms,
he received the soft answer that, if the Hejazi Government were pressed to pay,
they would probably do so. He advised Fuad Bey that the Hejazi Government
would no doubt find it more pleasant to make up their mind and pay without
waiting for His Majesty’s Government’s views on their refusal. They did
nothing, however, by the end of December.
Aerial Trespass.
36. On the 1st December, under instructions from His Majesty’s Govern
ment, His Majesty’s Charge d'Affaires replied to a Hejazi protest, made in
October, to the effect that three British aircraft had violated the Transjordan-
Nejd frontier. He explained that one machine had been compelled by engine
trouble to land, but that the atmosphere was hazy, and the leader of the formation
was therefore doubtful of his exact position; he thought that the landing was
made in Transjordan territory. In fact it was made in Nejd territory.
Mr. Hope Gill drew attention to the fact that the landing was due to circum
stances beyond the pilot’s control and expressed His Majesty's Government’s
regret. In reply of the 12th December, the Minister for Foreign Affairs stated
that he found it necessary to draw His Majesty’s Government’s attention to the
fact that, although the Hejazi Government were always ready to afford all possible