'File 8/15 Arab Series - 1933-1939' [‎161v] (322/434)

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begins over two hundred miles from the Red Sea Coast and that transport
difficulties would therefore be very great. The area is apparently the one
which lies just beyond the Syndicate’s eastern boundary and which is coveted
by the Syndicate as a valuable supplement to the concession they already
hold.
2 . The negotiators seem to have found the Saudi authorities lukewarm,
presumably because of the other bidders. There was no official of standing
within reach, and they had to negotiate through the Director of Public Works
in Jedda, Najib Salha, who only a few years ago was a clerk in the employ
of Messrs. Gellatly Hankey here. Towards the end of their stay, however,
they at least had the satisfaction of a long interview with Fuad Bey, who had
by then returned from abroad and from his subsequent visit to Mecca.
3. As your telegram did not reach me until the afternoon of November
20th and Colonel Etherton was due the next day, I assumed that he was arriv
ing by aeroplane in any case and that what was required was merely a noti
fication to the local authorities. The notification was given, but Colonel
Etherton had been trying in Cairo to get permission from the Saudi Govern
ment for the aeroplane to land in Jedda, and failing to get permission he and
his companion flew to Port Sudan and crossed by steamer, arriving at Jedda
several days later than if they had travelled from Egypt by sea. Colonel
Etherton also failed, in spite of an appeal he made to Fuad Bey, to get per
mission for the aeroplane to come to Jedda to fetch him and Col. Micklem and,
they crossed to the Sudan and proceeded by air from there. I knew of
their difficulty in this matter, but believing that if a company which was a
possible source of income to Ibn Saud could not by its own efforts obtain
permission for an aeroplane to land here, support from the Legation would
almost certainly be ineffective and that in any case, since the Saudi authorities
are not likely to make this privilege general, intervention on this occasion
might be a cause of embarrassment if similar applications should be received
in future. The question however calls for examination, and I am studying
4. A copy of this despatch is being sent to the Department of Overseas
Trade.
( 10 )
{Received on 8th February 1937 with Political Secretary's letter No. 3, dated
21st January 1937.)
Enclosure in Foreign Office covering letter, dated 12th January 1937.
Letter from British Legation, Jedda, to the Right Hon’ble Anthony
Eden, No. 314, dated 6th December 1936.
With reference to Sir Andrew Ryan’s despatch No. 156 (1447/132/14)
dated 26th May 1933, regarding the distribution of wireless stations in Saudi
Arabia, and to subsequent despatches on the same subject ending with Mr.
Calvert’s No. 210 (1734/157/9), dated 22nd July 1933, I have the honour
to inform you that according to a report published in the “ Saut al Hejaz ”
on November 17th, two new wireless stations which are entirely unaffected
by atmospherics have been erected at Riyadh and Abha. The report adds
that the Saudi Government are endeavouring to obtain a number of other
sets of this type for erection in various places.
2. The only other information on this point that J have been able to
obtain has been furnished by representative of the firm of Sharqieh Ltd.
who state that Messrs. Marconi did not supply these new sets. They also
gave a piece of information which was new to the Legation, viz., that a German
interested in wireless installation visited Jedda last spring and is believed
to have disposed of at least one set here—a set mainly designed for
reception but able to transmit up to short distances useful for local purposes.