Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎122v] (245/540)

179. The export trade of Jedda continues to be negligible. That of Yanbu
was increased in 1935 by the export of 1,000 camels at the high price of £15 gold
or more to Eritrea in the circumstances described in paragraph 82 above.
180. Information regarding outlying areas is even more meagre. The
Italian demand seems to have given some stimulus to the export of camels
overland to Syria. The briskness of the trade across the 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 frontier
has been noted in paragraph 21. Native butter, dates, hair-tents and live-stock
would appear to be the chief exports, while silk goods, cotton goods and cereals
are imported from 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 . An Amman estimate puts the total of such
imports for the year 1934-35 at £P. 10,000. Prosperity in Nejd, following on
good rains, is said to have been reflected in increased activity in the bazaars of
Piyadh. Those of Hofuf also presented a busy appearance, when visited on a
market day by Sir Andrew Ryan and Captain de Gaury.
V.— Military and Naval Organisation.
181. Ibn Sand is credibly reported to have boasted at Riyadh in the autumn
that it would be useless for him to engage in vast expenditure on military
organisation. He had, he said, reduced even the greatest tribal sheikhs to such
submission that they would fight his battles at command, even providing their
own supplies. He could disband their forces at will on the termination of a
campaign with or without reward. It is doubtless true that for warfare he would
at any time in the near future rely on levies as he did in 1934 (see paragraph 158
of the report for that year), and that he has no intention of introducing any
new military organisation into Nejd.
182. On the other hand, the King appears to have accepted the view that
for the consolidation of his power, especially in outlying parts of his enlarged
dominions, he needs more in the way of forces organised on something resembling
European lines than he has had before. Levies may be all very well for war, but
they can neither be turned out easily nor used to advantage for the more prosaic
work of policing turbulent areas and supporting tax-gatherers. There was a
definite move in 1935 in the direction of expanding and organising the regular
forces. The known facts are meagre and disconnected, and they are the harder
to co-ordinate because of the difficulty of discriminating clearly between the
military reorganisation and the police reorganisation mentioned in paragraph 138
above. Before enumerating them it should be said that the appointment of the
Minister of Finance to the additional post of Deputy Minister of Defence seems
to have meant more than might be inferred from paragraph 159 of the Report
for 1934, in which it was recorded; and that a part has been played by professional
soldiers, including Muhammad Sadiq, who defended Jedda for the Hashimites
when Ibn Saud besieged it and subsequently intrigued against the new regime
abroad, but who was one of the first to return under the amnesty of January 1935.
183. It was announced in May that the existing camel corps was to be
abolished and absorbed into the ordinary military and police forces. About the
same time measures, of uncertain scope, were taken to collect arms and ammunition
from outlying places, apparently with a view to storing them centrally at Mecca
or perhaps at Taif, which seems more and more destined to be the main military
centre in the Hejaz. Serving troops in the Northern Hejaz were called upon to
wear a kind of European uniform, with the option of dismissal, which some of
them preferred to wearing trousers. Troops intended to be embarked for Jizan
or Qunfida were seen in Jedda in new green uniforms in September. These
various measures would appear to have been taken in anticipation of a general
scheme of reorganisation, which was reported to be still under the King’s
consideration in August. It was mentioned at that time that he wished to
organise artillery and to have men trained on modern lines in the use of machine
guns.
184. At least one of the military schools mentioned in paragraph 159 of the
last report seems to have duly come into existence, but in June the Sadiq Bey
mentioned above spoke with contempt of “the present military school ” and hoped
that he might himself be put in charge. A later report spoke of 100 students
being trained, but whether as officers or men did not appear. In this connexion