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(secretariat) consisted of permanent officials to deal with business and submit it
for his orders. Matters turning on the Sharia were referred to the judicature.
Administrative, political, financial and military matters were passed upon by the
King. There were no persons responsible for such matters.
Provincial administration was in the hands of Amirs appointed by the Kiner
and deriving their authority from him as regards administrative, military an|^r
financial affairs, and from the Sharia as regards matters concerning it.
There was no special regulation defining administrative areas or the
functions, &c., of the Amirs. Such matters were governed by traditional
arrangements and existing custom. Administrative divisions may be regarded as
resting on the old basis of division into four parts as follows :—
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(1) The Amirate of Nejd or Aridh, with its seat of Government at Riyadh,
which is also the capital of Nejd.
(2) The Amirate of Qasim.
(3) The Amirate of Jebel Shammar.
(4) The Amirate of Hasa.
(5) The Amirate of Asir-as-Surat.
Each of these comprised many smaller areas, all called Amirates also, without
discrimination as regards size, importance, &c. The writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. would regard every
area that produced a Bayraq or standard in time of war as an Amirate,
including a large number of towns and villages.
Fuad Bey goes on to give a detailed list of minor Amirates in Aridh with
their principal towns and villages, and adds as a tenth heading “ Bedouin
Amirates,” directly connected with that province and containing in their area
many of the recently created settlements. He distinguishes four such Bedouin
Amirates, giving the tribal names as (i) Subai and Suhul, (ii) Atayba, (iii) Qahtan
of Nejd and (iv) Mutair.
In describing the Amirate of Qasim, Fuad Bey emphasises the separate
character of the administration of Anaiza, despite its geographical position. He
enumerates three other Amirates, viz. : (i) Qasim, with its centre at Buraida and
numerous villages along the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Rumma (Rima); (ii) Russ, with three villages;
and (iii) Mezneb, with three villages.
Fuad Bey divides the Jebel Shammar into the three Amirates of Hail, Teima
and Khaybar, and a group of Bedouin Amirates of the (i) Harb, (ii) Aneza and
Huteim, (iii) Shammar, and (iv) the Amirate of Artawiyya, “ if not attached to
Aridh.” He notes that the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Sirhan was formerly under the administration
of the Jebel Shammar, but has for some years been attached to the Hejaz for
purposes of administration and finance.
He divides Hasa into the three Amirates of Hasa, with over fifty villages,
including Hofuf and its port Uqair; Qatif, also comprising many villages and
three islands; Jubeyl; and a group of Bedouin Amirates, viz.; (i) Murra,
(ii) Beni Hajer, (iii) Beni Khalid, (iv) Ajman, (v) Mutair-as-Sufliyyin in Qariya,
(vi) Manasir, and (vii) Awazim and Rashaida.
He divides Asir into five Amirates with villages namely, Abha, Shahran,
Qahtan, Rijal-al-Ma and Najran, and treats separately as a dependency of Nejd
the former Idrisi territory, consisting of the three Amirates of Sabia, Jizan
and Abu Arish.
Hejaz.
Fuad Bey outlines the separate constitutional arrangements provided for the
Hejaz in 1926 and the principal subsequent amendments. It is unnecessary to
reproduce his account of the Constitution, which has been fully reported on.
He enumerates the present elements in the Central Administration as follows (but
see paragraph 123 of the present report as regards the Ministry of the
Interior) :—
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.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Ministry of Finance.
Ministry of the Interior.
Legislative Assembly.