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particular about certain personal letters addressed by the Amir to Ibn Saud earlier
in the year, about which he had unofficially and confidentially consulted
Sir Andrew iiyan. He stated that these letters suggested the dismissal of certain
persons employed by the Saudi Government, declared the Saudi Real Property
Law to be inconsistent with Islamic Law, and criticised the grant of a mining
concession in the Medina region, the permission given to foreigners to go to Taif,
and the alleged plan to make Taif a place of resort or residence for foreign
diplomatic representatives. Sir Andrew Ryan deprecated the suggestion that
Ibn Saud should reply in kind by criticisms of the administration of Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan .
He reported the matter to the High Commissioner for Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan , with the
suggestion that his Highness the Amir would be well advised to confine any private
correspondence with Ibn Saud to exchanges of courtesy or at most to matters in
which he had a direct personal interest, as in two cases known to Sir Andrew
Ryan. The High Commissioner concurred in this view and issued instructions for
a message in the proposed sense to be conveyed to his Highness, but before the
instructions could be acted upon the disorders had broken out in Palestine and the
instructions were held in abeyance until the time should be more propitious. The
Saudi Government have another grievance against the Amir, to which they refer
now and then, viz., a number of documents, which they regard, or pretend to
regard, as proof that the Amir has intrigued against them. The documents are
neither m the handwriting of the Amir nor signed with his seal, though the
Saudis allege that they bear a cypher signature which he uses in secret corres
pondence, and pieces which were read over to the chief secretary in Jerusalem
appeared “ ambiguous and not particularly damning.” Sir Andrew Ryan had
been told about these documents by the Saudi Minister for Foreign Affairs, but
had discouraged their production, and he gained the impression that the Saudi
authorities liked to keep them up their sleeve and had no intention to make pubb'c
use ol them at present. r
(4) Yemen.
1Q o- 3 ?- ,T he tW ?.. fr0 , n v er delimitation committees, which towards the end of
t h lt d T beg T fV ,e t mil / a i I0n of the Saudi-Yemeni frontiers in accordance
21st Fl e J; r v V4 T a V f 0f May r re Stated by the of the
submitted nrnnl! 3 ! 6 ’ to b y e c °mpleted their work in complete amity and to have
ori^te smmS 1 ; , had b T n , approved by both Governments. From a
C 0 nlfderawrdiffi!,^ g n i ear f ed Na j ran Commission at any rate had
wishes of b tL d i,d 1 nK- t t y T ad n!r t T ng th ® border with due consideration for the
a mansliwmrtltT f 8 ' Th ^ t egatlon , sent to the Foreign Office a tracing of
L7! P sh ° wm S ^e frontier as delimitated. The onlv use of this map which was
thi Zt dlaW \ to ,^ le ’ WaS 11 showed the names of the places between which
the frontier is held to run. The Aden authorities received information about a
dispute between the commissioners about the allocation of the fort near Khoba
Inch was claimed by both parties—a dispute which was ended by the destruction
of the fort m accordance with article 5 of the Treaty of Taif which nrohibits the
construction of fortified buildings within 5 kilom. of the frontier. P
31. By article 6 of the Saudi-Iraq Treaty of Brotherhood and Alliance the
parties undertook to endeavour to secure the adhesion of the Yemen to the treaty
• “l I ma ™ apparently appointed a committee to report to him on the treaty and
m June Sa.y.d Muhammad Zabara, described as the Amir of the Imam Yahva’s
palace was stated by the Umm-al-Qura to have been sent to Iraq to neootnte
about this treaty. These negotiations, if they ever took pface wefe not
successful, for the possibility of securing’ the adhesion of thp Vompn
discussed at Riyadh when the new Iraq Foreign Minister went there in November^
and it was suggested that, as the Imam was suspicious of Ibn Saud the Irao
Government should send a delegation to the Yemei for this purpose According
o in brmation given by Dr. Naji to His Majesty’s Ambassador in Bagdad this
proposal was approved by the Iraq Government, who, however decided to’send
A 4^ January a large number of Yemenis were deported from Saudi
Arabia. This was not directed against the Yemen, it would seem but was nart
f a general effort to get rid of undesirables. Many Somalis, for instance, were