مجموعة ٦/ ٩١ "المملكة العربية السعودية. سياسة حكومة بريطانيا. مسألة اتئمانات وضمان المساعدة لابن سعود." [و‎‎١‎٩‎٨] (٦٨٠/٣٩٦)

U 2260/2060/25;
Note on Jedda Telegram No. 170 of 1st August, 1940.
Mr. Bird suggests that a . arther M loan" of <;600 > 0o0
sterling to Ibn daud be given on the same conditions as the
previous B200,000 sterling. In our telegram No. 58 of the
PZ.Znof 6th April, in which His Majesty’s uovermnent’s decision to
/ g give financial assistance to Ibn daud was conveyed to Mr.
Bird, it was stated that as there was little prospect of a
credit of ^200,000 ever being repaid it would be better to
treat it frankly as a subsidy. Mr. Bird was therefore
instructed to inform the daudi Arabian Government that
r ’His Majesty’s Government have now decided as a matter
"of friendly regard to make advances up to a total of
"£200,000 without any signed agreement providing for the
"annual payment of charges, or laying down the terms of
"repayment. His Majesty’s Government are content to
"rely on Ibn Gaud to repay the advances as soon as his
"convenience permits."
2. In the absence of any Budget or statistics it is
difficult to give any estimate of the Saudi revenues. In
1938 Sir header Bullard estimated that the total revenue
amounted to £1,300,000 gold (say *,2,600,000 sterling at
today’s prices) of which £600,000 gold (say £1,200,000 sterling)
is derived from Customs receipts and about £600,000 gold
(£1,200,000 sterling) of the remainder comes from the pilgrimage
This estimate leaves out of account the oil royalties. In
1939 the output of the oilfield at Dhahran was 10,000 barrels
a day, the royalties on which would amount to about £100,000
gold (£200,000 sterling) per annum. It may be supposed that
the war will prevent any increase of production, if it does
not actually lead to a curtailment of the present output.
Another possible source of income, the gold mine at Mahd, has
also suffered from the war owing to the difficulty of obtaining
cyanide. Customs receipts may also be presumed to be
seriously affected by the interruption of communications in
the Ked Gea.
3. As regards the pilgrimage it can be said roughly
that the daudi Government takes about £10 gold (£20 sterling)
as dues from each pilgrim. The revenue from this source must
then have fallen from £600,000 gold (£l,200,GCC sterling) in
1938-1939, when there were about 60,000 pilgrims, to
£250,000 gold (£500,000 sterling) in 1939-1940, when the
estimated number of oversea pilgrims was 25,000. It is
unlikely that there will be any larger number of pilgrims this
year in spite of what His Majesty’s Government are trying to
do to ensure that the number shall at least be no fewer, and
Ibn Gaud cannot count on any more, if indeed he can count on
as much, revenue from this source.
4. Besides the sums taken by the Government, each pilgrim
spends a certain amount of money in the country. Mr. Bird gives
the average annuel value of the pilgrimage, based presumably on
a normal year of about 60,00C pilgrims, as £2,250,000 sterling.
Of this sum about £1,200,000 sterling represents Saudi
/Government