'File 8/7 I Jidda Intelligence Reports' [‎28r] (55/536)

I. INTERNAL AFFAIRS.
Ibn Sa'ud .—The King continued in Riadh throughout November and
December, but he was no longer able to brood on his personal troubles; there
came home to roost in Nejd the troublesome offspring of union with the
Hejaz. The last two reports have described the process of further disinte
gration which the already rotten state of the Hejaz passed through alter
Ibn Sa’ud’s withdrawal into Nejd in June. In the first days of November
he had before him at Riadh a memorandum on the situation drawn up by his
son Feysal, the Viceroy, and Fuad Bey Hamza, his Under Secretary for
Foreign Affairs. These had at length revolted against the virtual dictator
ship of his henchman and Director-General of Finance, Sheykh ’Abdullah
Suleyman, who had to go to Riadh to give his ow n account of his stewardship.
The memorandum revealed dissension in the Government of the Hejaz
amounting to deadlock and a critical state of financial chaos. It prescribed
two remedies which His Majesty had never yet l>een able to stomach, a budget
and a “Cabinet”. He now however accepted both, with what difficulty is
not known, and sent his chief political adviser, Sheykh Yusuf Yasin, to
Jedda with a proclamation and to concert financial measures with Fuad
Hamza. ’Abdullah Suleyman he retained in Nejd until the trouble should
blow over.
2 . Reforms .—On November 3rd the Hejaz was shocked by the news
that by direct order of the King the Treasury and all its branches were to be
closed and the tills locked, and that no payments however small were to be
made pending further instructions. This was the first sign of Ibn Sa’ud’s
reaction to the situation. Its inconveniences were manifold, for all daily-
paid public and municipal work at once ceased and the Quarantine Depart
ment, for instance, had to borrow fuel for its launch in order to "function at
all.,
3. Late on November 12th, Yusuf Yasin arrived posthaste in Jedda,
where the Amir Feysal and Fuad Hamza were awaiting him to learn the
King’s decisions. On the following morning His Majesty’s Charge
d’Affaires was invited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive the
welcome news of financial and constitutional reform. The latter, he was
given to understand, was not yet elaborated, but the King had conceded the
principle of a Council of Ministers on whom would rest joint responsibility
for government in addition to individual responsibility for their depart
ments. The resulting decree, which was not published until January, falls
to be considered in the next report. As to financial reform, Yusuf Yasin and
F’uad Hamza were in a position to announce the establishment of a budget.
4. They told Mr. Hope Gill in confidence that the revenue would be in
future apportioned under four headings
35 per cent official salaries, intended to cover all normal costs of admi
nistration ;
25 per cent., indebtedness, to cover all arrears of salaries as well as
the Government’s internal and external debt;
15 per cent., reserve (a novelty with all the attraction of a pot of
honey); and
25 per cent., extraordinary expenses, intended to ensure the comfort
and health of pilgrims and to develop the country’s hidden
resources.
Even approximate figures of estimated revenue were not yet available,
but it had been calculated that current indebtedness could be met in abo^t
two years. There Sheykh Yusuf’s information stopped and he left to say
his prayers. Nevertheless it was gratifying to learn of even the birth of a
budget.
L1081(C) FiPD ]