Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎70r] (140/540)

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received at the offices of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Jedda and apparently
entertained to lunch; but this treatment might be given to any pilgrims of note.
In any case, there was no reason why the Saudi Government should take sides
in the matter, when their religious principles and their economic interests both
require them to encourage the flow of pilgrims to the Hejaz, whatever their
nationality. The Spanish Moors, or some of them, earned thir money by speaking
in favour of General Franco, hut the propaganda does not seem to have attracted
very much notice.
Jr an.
172. The Iranian Legation was reopened only three weeks before the
pilgrimage day, and was closed again at the earliest possible moment. The
Minister himself was in Jedda only about three weeks. The Secretary spoke
openly of the journey of Iranian pilgrims to Mecca as a dead financial loss to
their country. Saudi statistics show that only twenty-two Iranians made the
pilgrimage this year.
United States of America.
173. Mr. Leland B. Morris, United States consul-general at Alexandria,
came to Jedda in January for a few days to study the question of American
interests and the alleged need for official representation in Saudi Arabia. His
visit was short and did not even allow him to visit the gold mine. The informa
tion he collected included generous contributions from the British Legation.
United States interests, which are confined to a controlling financial interest in
the Saudi Arabian Mining Syndicate (Limited) and to the California Arabian
Standard Oil Company working in Hasa, are hardly likely to induce the United
States Government to set up a Legation here, and the most important American
citizen in Jedda, Mr. Twitched, the managing director of the Saudi Arabian
Mining Syndicate, has been heard to declare that the United States Government
interests in this country would not justify the appointment of an American
official to protect them.
Japan.
174. Japan is still not represented officially in Saudi Arabia. Three
Japanese Moslems came on the pilgrimage. It was credibly reported that they
showed great activity in propaganda among the merchants at Mecca, saying that
Japanese rather than European goods should be bought in view of the pro-Islamic
tendencies of present-day Japan. This commercial propaganda is hardly
necessary, as the cheapness of Japanese goods enables them to command the
market in this country.
175. The Japanese victories in China seem to have made some impression
in Jedda. One gossip circle was heard representing them as victories of the
coloured races (among whom the Arabs were included) over the white, and the
attack on China as having for its object to set China free from the British and
the Americans.
(C)—Position in regard to the General International System and the League of
Nations.
176. If Ibn Sand ever had any desire to join the League of Nations, that
desire has completely disappeared. There are indications that he regards it as
acquiescing in policies unjust to the Arabs of Alexandretta and of Palestine.
177. The Saudi Government continued their attack (paragraph 120 of 1936)
on the Paris Sanitary Convention of 1926 in so far as it imposes “exceptional ”
quarantine measures on pilgrims travelling to or from Mecca. They, however,
communicated to His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom their
accession to the rules governing the action of submarines with regard to merchant
ships in time of war set out in the proces-verbal signed in London on the
6th November, 1936, thereby effacing the impression reported in paragraph 121
of the report for 1936 that they did not desire to participate in international
accords which do not affect their own interests; they were represented at the