'File 8/15 Arab Series - 1933-1939' [‎147r] (293/434)

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4. While this despatch was being drafted, Mr. Calvert had a conversa
tion, recorded in a minute of which a copy is attached, with the engineer,
Mr. Fearns, who assembles in Jedda the Ford cars imported by Mr. Philby’s
company, Sharqieh Ltd. The statements made by Mr. Fearns, who is an
honest, straightforward man, tend to show that the main object of Mr.
Philby’s journey was archaeological research, though as Mr. Calvert points
out, this does not explain Mr. Philby’s activities further south. Mr.
Philby would he capable of using any occasion to engage in log-rolling on
behalf of the ruler to whom he has paid many rather sycophantic tributes
in his writings on Saudi Arabia.
5. I am sending a copy of this despatch and its enclosure to Aden.
Minute.
M inister.
I called on Mr. Fearns last night. He informed me that Mr. Philby
was still in Najran (he appeared to think it a place rather than a province,
and could give no clearer indication of Mr. Philby’s exact whereabouts)!
From this I gathered that he had heard again from Mr. Philby and that
the later had halted for the time being. Mr. Fearns went on to say that
he thought Mr. Philby’s stay in Najran (and possibly the whole trip through
to the Hadhramaut) was not unconnected with the search for ancient re
mains. It appears that during the Saudi-Yemen war, Amir Saud, who
was operating in Najran, discovered certian vestiges of early settlements.
He later sent a party of men to Najran to excavate and these discovered
the hpad of a Hom in bronze, complete with one fore-paw. This was sent
to Mr. Philby and Mr. Fearns himself packed it up and sent it to London.
Mr. learns expressed the opinion that it was a good piece of work, and
it was certainly an excellent piece of casting.
It was this discovery, according to Mr. Fearns, that whetted Mr
Philby’s appetite for a trip south.
The above may have some element of truth, but of course does not ex
plain satisfactorily Mr. Philby’s activities further south.
Dated 25th October 1936. . ^
(89)
(E.7344/2617/91).
Ibn Saud and Italian Ambitions in Arabia.
Ihe Saudi Minister came to see me this evening and brought a verv
long confidential despatch in Arabic which he had just received from King
Ibn Saud. M. Zada gave me the substance of the despatch as follows
But he seemed to find unusual difficulty in translating it and in making the
points in it clear.
2 As His Majesty’s Government would have observed, Ibn Saud had
recently been consulting them more and more frequently on questions of
f ? r A lgn P 0l i 1C} \ T. hls was because (1) he considered that the true interests
of Arabia lay m friendship with Great Britain, (2) because he wanted to
a P° ic y as possible with that of His Majesty’s Government
and (3) because he wished to do nothing which might cause His Maiestv’s
Government embarrassment. But he appreciated that the questions which
he asked them from time to time might also be embarrassing to them and
he wished to know first of all whether His Majesty’s Government welcomed
this attitude on his part, or would prefer that he did not consult them so
often.
j despatch went on in this strain for some time, and then explain
ed that Ibn Saud was, very uneasy about the situation in various parts of
Arabia, and in particular in the Yemen and in Iraq. Much propaganda
was being carried on against His Majesty’s Government, who were being
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