Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎191r] (382/540)

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accusation that he squeezed money out of the Hejaz. £t The money of the
Hejaz,” he cried, £< is for the people of the Hejaz, and I protect and defend
them. I declare openly that, if any one of the Moslem Kings, princes or
merchants wants to do a benevolent deed for the Moslems in this country, he is
warmly welcome, provided he does not violate the honour of our country, neither
does he affect our independence or anything of our religious matters.”
* 125. Although the King is more vigorous than precise in his public
utterances, it is possible that this passage was an appeal to Moslems to render
the assistance of which there was so little prospect from Europe. In May he was
visited by the “ Amir ” Habib Lotfallah, who, though not a Moslem, has had his
eye on the Hejaz since King Hussein’s time, and by one Abdul Hamid Shadid,
said to be a representative of the ex-Khedive of Egypt. There was a financial
side to the economic proposals of these and others, which will be mentioned
presently. Lotfallah seems to have achieved nothing. At the end of the year it
looked as though business might be done with Abbas Hilmi Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , who told the
Cairo Ahram in December that Ibn Baud had asked him in his capacity as a rich
Moslem to help in the finances of his country. There may also be some possibility
of help from the Nizam of Hyderabad in return for the privilege of being allowed
to restore the Prophet’s birthplace.
126. Early in the year the Saudi Government engaged for one year as
financial adviser a Dutchman named van Leeuwen, a retired member of the
Netherlands Trading Society’s staff. He arrived in April, went on sick leave in
July and returned in November. He writes reports, but does not appear to
have any hand in the real finance of the country or even to be admitted to
Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman’s counsels. It was stated in the press in September
that recommendations of his in connexion with the Customs Administration had
been accepted and would shortly be brought into force, but up to the end of the
year no improvement was remarked in the Jedda custom-house. M. van Leeuwen
will certainly leave in 1933, and the Saudi Government will be the poorer by his
salary without having attempted to make serious use of him.
127. Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman continued during the year to squeeze all the
money he could out of as many people as he could get at, but there does not appear
to have been any important increase in the legal scales of taxation.
Economic Development.
128. There was again much talk in 1932 of economic development in
Saudi Arabia, but, as nothing definite materialised, it will suffice to give a very
brief account of the more important activities which came to the notice of the
Legation, as follows :—
(a) The American, Mr. Twitched, returned to the Hejaz on the 18th January
from a further prospecting tour in Nejd and Hasa, the most important result
of which was that he supported the scheme for the construction of a port at
Ras Tanura. In February he busied himself with yet another gold-mine, the
Mahd Dhahab, or Cot of Gold, near Medina, on which he reported with imprecise
hopefulness. His relations with the King seem to have deteriorated early in the
year, as the King found him officiously unwilling to stick to his last as a surveyor
and too ready to suggest how things should be done, while Mr. Twitched criticised
the lack of competent men to help him and the obstructive and dilatory methods
of Saudi officials. He left on the 7th March with his wife and his colleague,
Mr. Moseley, who had been prospecting for gold near Taif. The latter faded
away for good, but Mr. Twitched was back in May, and was understood to be
now in the pay of the Government, not as previously of Mr. Crane. He stayed
only a short time, but the Hejaz and its possibilities seem to have bitten him.
It was reported at the end of the year that he would return early in 1933 with
assistants, not necessarily to work in Government employ, but perhaps on behalf
of an American group.
(b) The schemes propounded in May by Habib Lotfadah and the
ex-Khedive’s agent seem to have been independent, but to have presented a
general similarity. They hinged on the idea of creating an Arabian National
Bank, with privilege of issue, financial assistance to the Government and the
grant by the Government of concessionary rights.