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work, &c. The Saudi Arabian Mining Syndicate were considering at the end of
the year the importation of one into the Hejaz. Thus, while there was little
concrete achievement in the way of flying in 1935, the idea of introducing it was
very definitely catching on.
Arabian Air Route.
191. The position in regard to facilities for British aircraft, service and
civil, to land on the Hasa coast in case of emergency is described in
paragraph 60.
Alleged Violation of Saudi Territory.
192. As stated earlier the Saudi Government did not follow up during 1935
the intimation which was mentioned in paragraph 168 of the Report for 1934 that
they wished for a final settlement in regard to forced landings in their territory
and similar incidents. In January they struck out a new line by putting forward
claims to a total amount of about £300 for a refund of expenditure said to have
been entailed by assisting and searching for British aircraft in two of the cases
mentioned in the same paragraph of the last report. The claim in respect of one
of the incidents seemed very inflated but it was considered politic to pay both.
193. The number of new incidents recorded in 1935 was happily very small.
The British authorities concerned rebutted two complaints by the Saudi Govern
ment that Saudi territory was flown over in the neighbourhood of the Trans
jordan frontier on the 2nd March and 16th August. It was feared in Trans
jordan on the 2nd July that a missing aeroplane might have strayed into Saudi
territory, but news that all was well reached the Legation quickly enough to
enable a note to the Saudi Government to be cancelled. A R.A.F. flying boat,
which was forced to alight off the Hasa coast on the 16th September, had to shelter
in thp lee of Ras Tanura while assistance was sent. An immediate notification
was addressed to the Saudi Government on receipt of this information and thev
reacted amiably.
VII.— Press.
194. The two Mecca weeklies the Umm-al-Qura and the Saut-al-llejaz
continued to be the only newspapers, with the possible exception of periodicals
of purely religious interests, appearing in Saudi Arabia. The former has
changed its editor, at least provisionally, and the latter is now owned by some
sort of a company. Both are, however, so much under the thumb of the Govern
ment, especially the Umm-al-Qura, which is to all intents and purposes owned by
them, that changes of this kind make little or no difference. In the autumn of
1935 the Umm-al-Qura had the enterprise to produce a daily supplement giving
wireless news about the Italo-Ethiopian war.
195. Except for occasional articles by Mr. Philby, such Saudi Arabian nows
as penetrated to Europe was again for the most part derived from the press of
other Arab countries and Egypt. Such news is rarely of much value. The Cairo
Ahram has a correspondent in Jedda, but no other foreign paper has any
machinery for obtaining trustworthy news other than that which is allowed to
appear in the Mecca papers.
VIII.— ^Legislation.
196. It is as hard as ever, for the reasons indicated in previous reports, to
sift satisfactorily the medley of regulations, decrees, communiques, &c, which
may be regarded as having a legislative character. A good many of those
published in 1935 related to matters mentioned elsewhere in this report like the
amnesty for exiles, the prolongation of the period for submitting proof of foreign
nationality, and various economic, financial and administrative matters. These
need not be further dealt with in this section nor is it necessary to include in
it certain minor legislative acts of little interest or importance to foreigners. The
following paragraphs describe briefly the most important legislation of a general
nature.