مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [ظ‎‎١‎٧‎٠] (٨٠٢/٣٤١)

4
(a) The Saudi delegates to the local conference at Bahrein (see paragiaph 57
of the last report) arrived there on the 9th March. Ihe conference was still
proceeding, apparently on promising lines at the end of the month.
(b) It is hoped that the same delegates will go on to Koweit in the near
future for the proposed local conference, which the Saudi Government have
agreed should be held there.
(c) Fuad Bev Hamza communicated to Sir Andrew Ryan on the 30th March
two documents relative to the future of the 1 reaty of Jedda and to slavery.
The objective of the Saudi Government is to induce His Majesty s Government
to renounce their right of manumitting slaves in consideration of the promulga
tion of regulations on slavery, a draft of which Fuad Bey submitted for
consideration; and to arrange for the validity of the treaty of Jedda to be
prolonged for ten years subject to certain provisos of which this renunciation
would be the most important.
(d) His Majesty’s Government approved on the 28th March of the attitude
of Sir Andrew Ryan in regard to the question of nationality, as described in
paragraph 5 of the appendix to the report for February.
(e) Admiral H. W. Grant, C.B., R.N., retired, a director of Cable and
Wireless (Limited), and Mr. H. R, Staples, the Port Sudan manager of the
Eastern Telegraph Company, arrived in Jedda on the 31st March to negotiate
with the Saudi Government regarding the external telegraphic communications
of Saudi Arabia (see paragraph 58 of the last report).
94. Few other matters of importance to Anglo-Saudi relations were
discussed during the month. The atmosphere has been one of extreme
friendliness and desire to appear accommodating on the Saudi side. When the
King received His Majesty’s Minister in formal audience on the 31st March he
wound up the conversation with an outburst of extreme cordiality, appealing for
Sir Andrew Ryan’s services as a “mediator’’ and treating him to the most
prolonged Royal handshake that he has ever enjoyed.
95. There is little to record in connexion with the relations of other Powers
with Saudi Arabia or their representatives. The French and Netherlands
Charges returned to Jedda in March from Syria and the Yemen respectively.
The Netherlands representative has now been appointed Charge d’Affaires at
Bagdad also. The Turkish Charge left a day or two before the pilgrimage. The
new Belgian consul (paragraph 64 of the last report) went to Brussels at the
beginning of the month. The Afghan Minister in Cairo (paragraph 66 of the
last report) was in the Hejaz for the pilgrimage and attended many functions, but
had not presented credentials as Minister in this country up to the end of the
month, doubtless because the Saudi Government cling to their doctrine of no
diplomacy in Mecca. To anticipate by a day he presented them in Jedda on the
1st April.
96. The relations between Saudi Arabia and Egypt continue to evolve on
lines of much unofficial sympathy, the manifestations of which may be the
prelude to Egyptian recognition of Ibn Saud. if the factor of King Fuad’s
personal hostility to the idea can be eliminated. Although no direct messages
could pass on the occasion of Ibn Saud’s escape, the Saudi agent in Egypt (who
seems to be treated with increasing consideration) reported expressions of
sympathy by high Egyptian personages, including the Prime Minister, as well
as by other persons; and a good many of the telegrams addressed to the King
came from distinguished Egyptians, including Prince Mohammad Ali, Prince
Omar Toussoun and Nahas Pasha “ on behalf of the Wafd and the Egyptian
nation.”
IV .—M iscellaneous.
97. H.M.S. Penzance, Commander R. H. Bevan, R.N., visited Jedda from
the 12th to 17th March. She took part in the usual regatta for the pilgrim
fleet, which was held on the 16th. One of the features of this year’s regatta was
a new pulling race, for a challenge cup presented by the Central Sports
Committee of the Mediterranean lleet. This presentation gave all the more
pleasure as it was made expressly to mark appreciation of the almost unique
opportunity which the occasion affords for close intercourse between the navy and
the merchant marine.