Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎101r] (202/540)

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181. Over two months after the promulgation of the Slavery Regulations an
official communique appeared in the Umm-al-Q.ura of the 11th December
appointing the Director-General of Police at Mecca as Inspector of Slave Affairs
and his assistant as Deputy Inspector, and declaring the police throughout the
Saudi Arabian Kingdom to be the competent authorities for the registration of
slaves. Whether registration had begun seriously by the end of the year is not
known.
182. The falling off in the number of slaves taking refuge in the Legation,
which was mentioned in paragraph 224 of the 1935 report, was continued in 1936,
but it must be remembered that the figures given below are for nine months only,
since the British right of manumission was renounced with effect from the
3rd October.
On hand at the beginning of January : nil.
Took refuge : seven males, six females.
Manumitted and repatriated : two females.
Manumitted locally : one male, one female.
Left the Legation voluntarily after taking refuge : five males.
On hand on the 3rd October : one male, three females.
183. The four slaves on hand on the 3rd October were protected by a reserve
to which reference was made in the section on the Treaty of Jedda (paragraph 61).
They eventually left the Legation to live in a neighbouring village under an
arrangement which seemed likely to afford them full protection.
184. It is early yet to give an opinion about the effect which the Saudi
Slavery Regulation is likely to have on slavery in this country. Some local reports
represent slave owners as regarding the regulation as less to be feared than the
possibility they formerly had to face that their servants would take refuge in the
British Legation.
185. Less than a year hence any slave who has not been registered by his
master will be entitled to demand a certificate of manumission (articles 9 and 10
of the regulation). It remains to be seen how many slaves will learn of this
provision, act upon it, and secure the manumission which they demand.
186. As Italian control extends in Ethiopia, the main overseas source of
supply of slaves for Arabia should be cut off.
XII.— Naval Matters.
187. The following visits were paid to Jedda by British sloops during the
year : H.M.S. Londonderry, the 1st to the 8th March, the 11th to the 14th June
and the 14th to the 18th September; H.M.S. Weston, the 27th November to the
2nd December.
188. French sloops visited Jedda several times in the course of the year, viz.,
the D'Iberville, with Rear-Admiral Rivet commanding the Naval Division of the
Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. , for a few hours on the 18th January; the Bougainville from the 11th to
the 12th February; the D'Iberville from the 4th to the 8th March; the
Bougainville from the 11th to the 17th April and again from the 2nd to the
3rd May; the D'Iberville from the 18th to the 22nd June and on the 3rd August.
It was noticed during the April visit of the Bougainville, which is rather large
for a sloop and carries an aeroplane, that the officers included one of apparently
equal rank with the commander, viz., a “ chef de bataillon ” of colonial infantry.
It seems probable that he was a special service officer, come to accompany the
French Minister to the Yemen. No visits were made by warships of other Powers.
It is noteworthy that Italy sent no vessel to show the flag at Jedda.
189. Mention may be made here of the interest taken in Tiran and Senafir
Islands during the year. The conclusion was reached that Saudi Arabia alone
had a good claim to them, and that it would be unwise to raise the question.
Air reconnaissances disclosed no signs of unusual activity and were discontinued.