مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [و‎‎٣‎٩‎٨] (٨٠٢/٧٩٦)

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to date at 20,337. The total number of Dutch East Indian pilgrims, including
the last arrivals in March, is about 15,000, not including children, or rather less
than half the figure for last year. Pilgrim ships from India brought 1,679
pilgrims up to the 28th February. On this same date 397 had arrived from
Malaya. It is difficult to estimate the probable number of Egyptians, who are for
bvious reasons late starters. The Khedivial Mail Steamship Company would
Jppear to have lost the contract for transporting them, but the information in
Jedda on this subject is meagre. It is stated that the pilgrimage from Algeria
has been prohibited for sanitary reasons, a decision which, if confirmed, will
seriously affect the movement from French North Africa as a w’hole.
Control of Nigerian Pilgrims.
53! Arrangements were made more or less informally in February for the
Commissioner at Port Sudan to visit Jedda in order to discuss this question
further, with a view to the elaboration of a scheme which might in due course be
proposed to the Nigerian Government as an effort to secure theii main desiderata
without overtaxing the means at the disposal of the Sudan Government and the
Legation in Jedda (December report, section 21).
VIII.— Slavery.
54. The number of slaves manumitted by the Legation in January and
February was three, all of whom were male. One other man, an Abyssinian,
refuge, but relinquished his desire for freedom. There is reason to suppose that
the local authorities have taken measures to make it more difficult for slaves to
obtain access to the Legation, e.g., by prohibiting the movement of negroes in the
interior without permits. Information of this kind is difficult to control. A
concrete instance of obstruction of another kind occurred on the 17th January
when the Acting Governor of Jedda, acting under instructions i rom ^ ecc 1 ^’
showed hesitation in giving the necessary paper to enable a f ^ed slave to be
embarked for Massowah next day. The notice given was admittedly short, but, m
order to discourage the tendency to obstruct, the Legation telegraphed to the
Minister for Foreign Affairs in Mecca, with the result that orders were given in
time for the man to be embarked according to plan; but only after the Legation
had, by considerable use of the telephone, tracked the progress of its own telegram
through all stages.
IX.— Miscellaneous.
Reuter Service.
55. No progress appears to have been made.
Law on Nationality.
56 The “ Umm-al-Qura ” of the 13th February published the text of a
regulation amending the Regulation on Hejazi Nationality promulgated in 1926.
In view of the importance of these enactments an attempt has been made in the
appendix to this report to produce a consolidated English text giving their
combined effect. The law of 1926 was much criticised by foreign Powers, and in
1927 His Majesty’s Government sought to establish certain principles which they
hoped might be embodied in an exchange of notes. Negotiations in 1928
led to no result, and, as the law was not in practice giving rise to much difficulty,
the matter was allowed to stand over until the summer of 1930, when it was
thought desirable to reopen it in order to facilitate the settlement of certain
particular questions affected by it. Little progress was then made beyond
ascertaining that the Hejaz Government were disposed to satisfy His Majesty s
Government on certain points but, through jealousy of their sovereign rights,
wished to proceed by way of legislation of their own. On the other hand the
Legation found it necessary to seek further guidance from His Majesty’s Govern
ment on various matters, a final decisioU on which was not taken until the
6th February, when instructions were sent to Sir A. Ryan. . . . .
57. Before those instructions reached Jedda, Sheikh Yusuf Yasin had
intimated that the Hejaz Government were anxious to get on with the new law