Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎112v] (225/540)

‘ c Communique No. 13 ” (see paragraph 171 of the last report). The second
extension prolonged the time for six lunar months from the 5th April, 1935, and
on the 25th June His Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires notified the Saudi Government,
under instructions, that this prolongation removed any objection that His
Majesty’s Government might have had to the application of the original
communique to British subjects and protected persons. Mr. Calvert’s letter
confirmed the caveat mentioned in paragraph 171 of the report for 1934 and
added, in the spirit of an oral exchange of views between His Majesty’s Minister
and Fuad Bey Hamza, an expression of the view held by His Majesty’s Govern
ment that the terms of the main communique were not intended to apply to
persons who, though employed in the country or staying for more than a single
pilgrimage season, had clearly no intention of settling permanently in Saudi
Arabia.
67. The repercussions in Saudi Arabia of the crisis in international affairs
resulting from the Italian attack on Abyssinia caused Ibn Saud to consult
His Majesty’s Government on various matters, using his usual method of
accompanying limited confidences with unlimited professions of friendship and
a desire for intimate relations with them. This is so closely bound up with the
subject of his relations with Italy that it can better be dealt with below.
Other British Governments.
68. No questions arose between Saudi Arabia and the self-governing
Dominions. The Government of India were naturally specially interested in the
question of their dispensaries in the Hejaz, and it lay with them also to deal with
the practical aspects of the Saudi Government’s renewed request for the establish
ment of a postal service between Asir and Kamaran (see paragraph 170 below).
They and the Government of Palestine were also specially concerned with a
proposal to send to certain countries, including India and Palestine, a Saudi
mission to study the position of Haramayn Wakfs, i.e., religious foundations
created for the benefit of the Holy Cities in the countries to be visited. According
to the representations made, this mission was to have an unofficial character,
although the Saudi Government were interested in its objects, and no money was
to be collected. The Government of Palestine made no difficulty, subject to the
members being individually unobjectionable. The Government of India, after
greater hesitation, acquiesced guardedly in the sending of the mission. For some
reason unknown to the Legation the mission had not started up to the end of
the year.
(2) France and Syria.
69. No important developments are known to have occurred during 1935
in the political relations between France and Saudi Arabia. The Amir Saud
spent about nine days in Paris in June in the course of his European tour. He
was entertained at luncheon at the Elysee and twice visited the Mosque and
Islamic Institute in Paris, to which he gave a donation. Little is known as to
what business was discussed. A press report spoke of very friendly negotiations
and, more particularly, of exchanges of views regarding the intensification of
economic intercourse between Syria and Saudi Arabia, and the Hejaz Railway
question. Fuad Bey Hamza was said to have had a cordial conversation with
the French High Commissioner for Syria. The party again made a short stay
in Paris after leaving London on the 22nd July.
70. The arrangements to elevate the French consulate in Jedda to the status
of a Legation and to promote the Charge d’Affaires to the rank of Minister
Resident were completed in December 1935, after much delay, due in all
probability more to French financial considerations than to any political reason.
When the necessary French decrees were issued, the French representative was
in Syria and Ibn Saud was in Nejd. The presentation of M. Maigret’s credentials
therefore stood over until 1936.
71. The chief common interest of France and Saudi Arabia would still
appear to be that of France in “ keeping Ibn Saud sweet as regards Syria,” to
quote from the report for 1934, and that of Ibn Saud in showing correctness
vis-a-vis the mandatory Power. This does not prevent him from cultivating
relations with Syrian nationalists and tribal personages; but the British Legation
knows too little of the attitude of the French authorities in Syria towards the