ملف ١٩٢٤/١٧٠٧ "الجزيره العربية - تقارير عن الوضع في جدة. (١٩٢٤-١٩٣٠)" [ظ‎‎١‎٩] (٨٩٨/٤٣)

14
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26. General.
removed, ^
Tepottal’now b^m^CmiHlarrstoirofaU kmd" 3 It is conveniently
skuated hetween Mecca and Riadh, and centrally placed for operations to north
or ^outh It is also off tho pilgrim routes. . „ , • • .-i ^
' A Syrian refugee, Nabih-al-Adhma, who saw service for some time m the
Turkish army, was appointed Director of Military Organisation in September
and has since carried out a tour of inspection as far north as Khuraiba on the
Heiaz coast. There was talk of placing the Hejaz Air Force under his command,
; but, in view of its special nature, it has been reserved to the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs.
VI .—Naval Visits.
27. None of His Majesty’s ships visited Jedda during the period under
review. The French despatch vessel “ Montmirail ” entered on the 6th September
to return the French Charge d’Affaires from his visit to the Temen, and left on
the 8th.
28. “Asia."
VII.— Pilgrimage.
The report of the court of enquiry held at Marseilles on the burning of the
“Asia” has now been communicated through His Majesty’s Ambassador at
Paris. It is as uncritical a document as that which embodied the findings of the
local Hejazi committee (August report, section 29). The captain and crew are
stated to have upheld the best traditions of the French mercantile marine; one
interesting page of the report showing the reaction of French logic to the breach
of the custom which would have a captain be the last to leave his ship.
The wreck is in the hands of the underwriters, who are represented in Jedda
by Messrs. Gellatly, Hankey and Co. The local authorities made an attempt to
intervene in October, stating that, having taken charge of the hulk, they wanted
a receipt for one of its boats which the firm holds, but on being asked for a receipt
for the (£ Asia ” they quickly let the matter drop.
29. Forged Rufee Notes.
The Government of India decided to take no action themselves with a view to
having the forgers and dealers entrapped through the agency of the Indian vice-
consul, who had discovered them during his leave in Syria (August report,
section 32). They preferred that the matter be entrusted to the French
authorities, but declared themselves to be vitally interested and ready liberally
to recognise any good work done by officials or private persons. His Majesty’s
consul-general at Beirut, therefore, placed the case and the evidence collected by
Munshi Ihsanullah in the hands of the Surete generale, and a plan elaborated
by the munshi was agreed upon. Unfortunately, it was badly handled by the
trench inspector in charge and failed. His leave having expired, Ihsanullah
returned disconsolate to Jedda, but letters followed him from Syria which showed
t at the gang were still bent on profitable business during the coming pilgrimasre
season. At the end of November, therefore, he was applying his undoubted
talents to another Machiavellian plan to entice the gang’s chief broker once more
into the hands of the police.
30. 1931 Pilgrimage.
iU e w firSt J ilgrim , S . hi P f 1 rom . the Dl,tch East Indies arrived on
over \ nnn : m v s ] 11 P s T ,lad arm ; ed b 7 the en d of the month, bringing iust
over 3,000 pilgrims, chiefly Javanese, but including a few Malavs Last vear
nearly 8 000 niSf The’lMK* Nov t ember .’ a " d the firR t nine‘ships brought
f , , . - • I 1 fall is symptomatic of world conditions and foretells
an extremely lean year for the Heiaz, the great majority of whose ponulation
lives and used to batten upon the devout of Islam. J ' v. P o P matl0n