Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎105r] (210/540)

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4. The attempt on Ibn Sand’s life by certain Yemenis outside the Kaaba on
the 15th March produced little more than a passing emotion, thanks to his
prudence in forbidding reprisals against Yemeni pilgrims and his determination
not to make the affair a cause of quarrel with the King of the Yemen. It invested
his heir apparent, the Amir Saud, with some glory, as he was credited with
having saved his father’s life. Soon after this, the prince became much more
conspicuous in foreign eyes than he had ever been before by undertaking a grand
tour in Europe from which he returned to Jedda on the 25th August. In Saudi
Arabia itself much has been done to emphasise the Amir’s position as second man
in the realm, a fact all the more worth noting as the possibility of the King
abdicating in his favour was again being canvassed towards the end of the year.
5. Full attention will be given later to these and other important matters,
including the attitude of Ibn Saud towards the Italo-Ethiopian crisis, or rather
towards the two Powers, who are for him the real protagonists, viz., Great
Britain and Italy, and his reception of Sir Andrew Ryan at Riyadh in November.
Reference will also be made to his attitude towards pan-Arab nationalism, which
seemed to evolve during the year, not in the direction of promoting the creation
of a single united Arabia under one head, but of consolidating the mutual
relations of the principal independent Arab States already in existence and
making this serve the realisation of national aspirations in other Arab areas.
6. Saudi Arabia was still unprosperous during 1935, but it was not quite
so lean a year as those that preceded it, and there was rather more promise for
the future. The total number of overseas pilgrims increased from about 25,000
in 1934 to about 34,000 in 1935. Rain was abundant in the winter of 1934-35.
The pilgrimage is not expected to show any further increase in 1936, and may
well be smaller, but the early winter rains of 1935-36 have again been good.
Moreover, the prospects of oil in Hasa seemed by the end of the year to be
promising, and high hopes were entertained of the gold-mining enterprise in the
Hejaz of the Saudi Arabian Mining Syndicate (Limited), whose success in one
area seemed to be fairly assured and who were arranging to prospect extensively
in others. If the hopes of the promoters of these two enterprises are realised, it
should help greatly with the still unbalanced finances of the country. Meanwhile,
they already provide an appreciable amount of employment. Trade has probably
improved somewhat, with advantage to the inhabitants of Mecca and Jedda, but
this may be due less to a real increase of prosperity than to adventitious circum
stances, like the tendency to over-buy which is apt to follow a good pilgrimage
and which was accentuated in the autumn of 1935 by the effects of the crisis in
world affairs.
II.— Foreign Relations.
(A) With States in Arabia.
(1) Iraq.
7. The most definite development in the relations between Saudi Arabia and
Iraq in 1935 was the conclusion of a provisional agreement, signed at Jedda on
the 12th February, regarding the overland route for pilgrims from Nejef to
Medina via Hail. Great publicity was given to the project in the Saudi press
and elsewhere, but much disappointment was felt over the smallness of the
numbers carried, in comparison with the real or alleged expectations of the
Iraqis. Three or four convoys, consisting of small cars, came through.
According to the final Saudi estimate, they carried 384 pilgrims, while His
Majesty’s Embassy in Bagdad put the total at 398. They included a party of
seventy-three Iraqi “boy” scouts. Little information is available as to the
conditions in which they travelled, a point which would appear to be of more real
importance than the numbers in the case of a first experiment.
8. The scouts proved to be very well-grown young men and were treated
with much attention. The King himself had a party for them, and made a
speech in which he applauded their movement, so beneficial to the progress of
Arabs. He proclaimed the solidarity between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and
described the latter as a bulwark which would prevent hostile penetration of
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