Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎118r] (236/540)

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that he was cossetting the Shammar and was hard on the Mutair and perhaps
other tribes in the north-east of his dominions. Not much was reported about the
great tribes further west, but it is probable that feeling is divided among the
Ataibah, some of whom still resent the treatment by Ibn Saud of what was
formerly the leading family, and especially its imprisoned head Sultan Ibn
Humayd-bin-Bujad. Mention must be made in this connexion of reports in
November which convinced the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Koweit that two of the chiefs
mentioned in paragraph 75 of the report for 1933 had died.
129. It was reported in June that chiefs of the Beni Atiya had been
summoned to Medina to account for alleged irregularities in the distribution of
subsidies granted to the tribe by Ibn Saud. The chief reports of really serious
trouble related to the high mountains of Asir and Najran. Tribesmen in the
mountains were said to have refused payment of taxes. The people of Najran
were stated to have driven out a Saudi garrison of seventy men. r I he facts are, as
usual, obscure, but punitive operations seem to have been undertaken ; the Governor
of Jizan died, and rumour suggested that he had lost his life in the troubles. A
new Governor, supposed to have been chosen for his military qualities, was
appointed to Najran.
130. From information received in Jerusalem and Amman in the summer, it
would appear that the quasi-independent Governor of Teima, Ibn Rumman (see
paragraphs 115 ff. of the report for 1934) had composed his differences with
Ibn Saud, and that the King had dropped his proposal to erect a wireless station
at Teima. A later report in November stated that he was still trying to persuade
Ibn Rumman to accept both the wireless station and a garrison. Whatever the
truth about their relations, there were no signs of warlike developments during
the year.
131. Mention was made in the introduction of the sort of amnesty
proclaimed by Ibn Saud at the beginning of the year. The decree on the subject
was published on the 25th January. It cancelled all measures hitherto taken to
prevent various Saudi subjects from re-entering the country, and authorised their
return subject to compliance with conditions, which were not stated. Although
the word ‘ ‘ pardon ’ ’ was used, the terms of the decree, considered as an amnesty,
were far from explicit. It looked as though it might affect persons who had
remained abroad for general political reasons, e.q., certain members of the
Shereefian family, rather than former rebels and persons implicated in active
intrigues against Ibn Saud. In the event, however, certain persons in these two
categories made their peace with the King and were received back into his fold.
They included two relatives of the Ibn Humayd mentioned in paragraph 128, who
passed through Koweit on their way back from Iraq in November, and at least
three persons concerned in the conspiracies abroad, which attracted special
attention in 1932. Two of these, Tahir-ad-Dabbagh and Abdur Rauf-as-Sabban,
had been among the most active of the conspirators. They were welcomed back
not merely with forgiveness but with great honour.
Constitutional Development and Administration.
132. No constitutional developments took place in 1935. The stationary
and somewhat indeterminate position described in paragraph 122 of the report
for 1934 continues unchanged. The fact is that the characteristics of Nejd make
it entirely unsuitable for any kind of constitutional government, and that the
Hejaz is hardly less autocratically governed, despite the observance of certain
constitutional forms. As regards the doubt expressed in paragraph 123 of the
previous report, it would appear, not very certainly, from language used by
Fuad Bey Hamza in 1935 that there is still theoretically a Minister of the
Interior in the person of the Amir Feisal, notwithstanding the merger of the
machinery of that Ministry in that of the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. of the Council. It matters
very little. The King’s a King for a’ that, and Ministers are his most obedient,
humble servants when it comes to anything at all important.
133. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs continued during the year to be a
Syrian preserve, run for the most part by Fuad Bey Hamza and in his absence by
Sheikh Yusuf Yasin, under the nominal direction of the Amir Feisal and the