مجموعة ٢١/٦(١) "الحجاز-نجد: العلاقات مع الحكومة البريطانية: مفوضية الحجاز في لندن والوزير البريطاني في جدة". [و‎‎٣‎٥‎٦] (٩١٤/٧٢٢)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT.
EASTERN (Arabia).
CONFIDENTIAL.
^ 612/612/91]
February 3, 1930.
48 5
q q Q f Section 1.
No. 1 .
ilfr. Bond to Mr. A. Henderson.—{Received February 3.)
{No. 25.)
Sir, Jedda, January 20, 1930.
I HAVE the honour to report that the accession of King Ibn Sand was
celebrated on the 8 th and 9th January in conformity with an elaborate programme
of festivities which had been devised for the occasion. These were the first
celebrations of the sort that have taken place, and it is stated that the King was at
first opposed to them, although he subsequently gave his consent.
2. In Jedda the streets were beflagged and a general holiday was proclaimed
on the 8 th January. The day began with receptions and a salute of 101 guns, the
foreign representatives and consuls and their staffs in uniform being received by
the Governor at 11 a.m. Simultaneously, the Emir Eeisal was holding a reception of
notables in Mecca.
3. In the afternoon the Emir Feisal arrived from Mecca for a review of the
local troops outside the town at Kandara. These consisted of a company of infantry
of the Jedda garrison in their semi-European uniform, who presented a rather sorry
spectacle compared with a few wild horsemen and a picturesque contingent of about
200 men on gaily caparisoned camels who followed. The artillery was represente
by the four saluting guns, which were drawn by mules commandeered from the
market place for the purpose. The review was preceded by tea at the palace at
Kandara, to which some 300 guests had been invited. . , ,
4. In the evening an official banquet was held at Kandara at which abou
150 guests were present, including the foreign representatives and a number ol
representatives of the leading Egyptian newspapers, who had been invited by the
Heiaz Government to attend the celebrations. The banquet was the occasion ±oi a
number of complimentary speeches extolling the virtues of the King and the progress
made under his reign. There had, I am told been a ^p dispute between the
Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Governor of Jedda 88 t°
deliver the Government’s address. The matter had been referred to the Emu who
had decided as a compromise that Sheikh Fuad’s speech should be read by a citizen
of ’V^Veikh Fuad’s speech was in the main also a eulogy of the King and his
works'. He enumerated the objects which the King had set .yt^ieve since his
accession and commented on the results obtained. I enclose a resume ot his speecn
accession and comme lunch h , ad been organised by the Municipality of
Mecca at W.i, fbc? .5 cite M. Mecca
The 103 ™ £ e«»- = S/.t.gSK.’rin.. The
again invited. although the super-abundance of food was
arrangements for lunch were exw , trenc | erman , an d the guests, m spite of
calculated to daunt all but tIle . country, managed to make very
y.=~ a sajisr «s
Vi* on *"« *" d h “
the Emir. t om told on an unprecedented scale for
Arabia, K "*
SSiFfe tosrssrsc “
their praises. . , , T a definite departure from the rigid
9 The celebrations marked, I think a oenn V ■ photographs
precepts which the Akhw ( 5 n -Ythotographer hfd, in Tact, come from Egypt and
photographed'fhe^tmir on every^ossille"occasion. Smoking was indulged m openly
* Not printed.
[31 e—1]