Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎221v] (443/540)

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122. The effects of this demonstration, in so far as they bore on the financial
situation, are related in the financial section of this report. When Sheikh
Yussuf Yasin brought the King’s orders to Jedda on the 12th November, he
announced also measures of constitutional reform. The latter, so His Majesty’s
Charge d’Affaires was informed, were not yet elaborated, but His Majesty had ^
accepted the principle of a Council of Ministers with joint responsibility. The
decree providing for this was not published until the middle of January 1932.
As it is in any case too soon to judge of the value of the constitutional any more
than of the financial reform, it need not be analysed in detail here. It will suffice
to say that it falls to be regarded as an amendment of the Hejazi Constitution
of 1926 and as applying only to the Hejaz, although this is not clearly stated;
that it clearly affirms the joint responsibility of a small council under 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 Amir Feisal, who is still to be Viceroy when the King is absent
from the Hejaz, but to be merely President of the Council at other times; that it
creates a Ministry of the Interior with several subordinate departments; and
that for the time being the Amir is to be head of that Ministry as well as of the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
123. It has been possible to give a coherent description of the sequence of
events in Mecca and Jedda. No equally clear account can be given of the
situation in the interior of the Hejaz. In certain areas, notably that of which
Medina is the centre, the tribes would appear to have been reduced to a state of
misery bordering on starvation, but there was no indication of revolt. Those
towards 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 were probably less unfortunate, for it is
necessary to keep them more or less contented, while at the same time maintaining
some measure of discipline among them. The way in which a balance is
maintained between these opposing considerations was illustrated in 1931 in
the case of the important Beni Atiya, who frequent both sides of the frontier.
The bulk of this tribe were collected in the Hejaz during the latter part of the
year. At first they were allowed considerable license. They raided other Hejazi
tribes and were treated with such toleration that Captain Glubb described them
in the autumn as Ibn Saud’s “ blue-eyed boys.” It is, nevertheless, probable that
the reorganisation of the frontier administration, early in the year, was partly
designed to provide the means of controlling disorderly elements. It was
suggested later that the Shammar and other tribesmen were being mobilised for
a punitive expedition to overawe the Beni Atiya, Be this as it may, they had
apparently lost the King’s favour by the end of the year.
(2) A dministration.
124. This subject is touched on in so many connexions elsewhere in this
report that little need be said of it in a separate section. From a foreign point
of view the most salient features of Ibn Saud’s system still are the complete
centralisation of all real authority in the hands of the King, whose advisers and
officials enjoy some latitude in minor matters, but must refer all important
questions for his personal decision; and the continued inadequacy of the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs. It will be remembered that a reorganisation of this depart
ment was projected in December 1930. It was hoped that a permanent branch
of the Ministry would be established at Jedda, and that Fuad Bey Hamza, who
had been made Under-Secretary with the Amir Feisal in titular charge of the
Ministry, would spend much of his time there. Steps were taken at and about
the same time to collect a small number of young men capable of serving as
secretaries. All this broke down completely. Fuad Bey’s illness and his
subsequent absence on leave until the middle of April deprived the Ministry of
its one energetic element. Sheikh Yussuf Yasin, who replaced him and who, in
fact, devoted much time to foreign business in Jedda during that period, was
more the King’s man than a departmental official. After his visit to Jedda at
the end of January and beginning of February, the Amir Feisal manifested no
overt interest in foreign affairs and confined himself to signing documents.
Fuad Bey, when he returned reverted to his previous system of spending most of
his time at Mecca or Taif and visiting Jedda for short periods at irregular
intervals. It would probably not suit him to risk the waning of his influence by
absenting himself too much from the Centre, and he is too jealous of his position
to leave much to subordinates. The small collection of bright young men tended
to disintegrate as the year wore on. At the end of December Fuad Bey and a