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but it must in all fairness be stated that the printing of the Umm-al-Qura and the
Saut-al-Hejaz compares favourably with that of many more sophisticated Arabic
newspapers.
209. Very little local news of interest appears in the press, and nothing
tending to criticise the existing state of affairs. Comment on foreign affairs also
is restrained by the hand of authority, and although both newspapers at times
published material directed against the Palestine policy of His Majesty’s
Government, the tone was very mild.
VII.— Legislation.
210. The “ Corps legislatif ” of Saudi Arabia, the nature of which is
doubtful, was not active during 1937, and, apart from a Workmen’s Compensa
tion Act promulgated in December (paragraph 73), the only enactments of
importance were decrees regulating the operations of the National Arab Car
Transport Company and the Arab Export Company, which can more conveniently
be dealt with in the economic report.
VIII.— Education.
211. There has been little educational activity during the year under review.
The Egyptian Ministry of Education nominated a member of their teaching
staff as a master for the Najah School at Medina, and it was announced in January
that boarding and preparatory departments were to be established in the special
school which prepares students for study abroad. After some delays this school
opened its doors on the 20th March. Its students are said to number forty-eight.
In April the local press announced the opening school at Abha, in the wilds
of Najran.
IX.— Public Health.
212. General health conditions in Saudi Arabia remained very much as they
were in 1936. Some advance can be said to have been made, but more theoretical
than practical.
213. The new hospital at Taif, reported last year to be under construction,
was finished and opened in September. A “ medical centre ” is reported to have
been opened at Hail to enable a medical control over the pilgrim route from Nejef
to be imposed. The Mecca hospital, which was visited by the Indian medical
officer of the Legation, appears to be fairly well organised, and it now possesses
a radiologist who is said to be competent. Bacteriological laboratories for
clinical work, not research, have been set up at Mecca and Jedda, though little
is heard about the work of the one in Jedda. The announcement that a school for
nurses (male) has been opened in Mecca is regarded with some scepticism as to
its results. Dr. Mackie (paragraph 165 of 1936), in co-operation with a
distinguished medical colleague, presented a confidential report to the Saudi
Government conveying in the most diplomatic language various suggestions for
the improvement of the health service. It is probably in response to one of these
suggestions that two, or perhaps more, travelling doctors have been engaged to
visit some of the less accessible parts of the kingdom. The latest development in
the health services is revealed in a notice which appears in the press to the effect
that photo-therapeutical treatment is given (perhaps free) at stated times. What
is not known is the precise degree of skill and training possessed by the doctors
in charge of these various activities. Many of them are Syrians with inferior
degrees from Damascus, and it is not believed that they are as a whole of a very
high character. An attempt to improve their technical qualifications has been
made by the despatch of several of them to specialise in various branches of
medicine in Europe.
214. Some interest has been shown in international health matters. The
Director-General of the Public Health Department, Dr. Mahmud Hamouda,
attended the International Health Congress at Paris as official Saudi delegate,
and the Saudi Arabian Government were also officially represented at the
International Trachoma Congress at Cairo.