Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎228r] (456/540)

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171. On more than one occasion during the year the Hejazi Government
displayed their usual sensitiveness regarding the alleged violation of their terri
tory by British aircraft, both on 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 side and on the Hasa Coast.
It is unnecessary to go into the details of these complaints. It may be said of
them in general that they always lack precision in regard to essential details
and are sometimes wholly vague. As a rule they prove to be unfounded, although
it does occasionally happen that British airmen lose their bearings and do not
quite know where they are in the super-air of deserts or that they become involved
in trouble which necessitates alighting on or close to the coast of Nejd.
VII.— Legislation.
172. The difficulties of giving any satisfactory account of Hejazi legisla
tion were explained in section VII of the annual report for 1930. In 1931 Fuad
Bey Hamza was compelled to admit that a commission appointed to make a
collection of existing laws and regulations had found them in such a hopeless
mess that it had broken down in its efforts. The conditions in which this report
has been prepared make it impossible to give a complete account even of the
regulations published in the “ Umm-al-Qura ” in 1931. In these circumstances
any attempt to deal with the subject comprehensively is deferred. Mention may,
however, be made of a few enactments of special interest to foreigners, as
follows :—
(a) Law on Nationality. —The law of 1926 was amended and extended to
the whole of Ibn Baud’s dominions by a further law published in
February 1931. The amendments were such as to remove the more
serious objections to the original law on the part of His Majesty’s
Government. A translation of the consolidated text was appended to
the Jedda bi-monthly report for January-February 1931.
(b) Legalisation of Documents. —A comprehensive regulation on this subject
was published in February. Some of its requirements were stringent,
but there was nothing in it to which exception could be taken.
(c) Regulation on Pilgrim Passes. —See paragraph 182.
(d) Firearms. —In the spring a regulation was issued establishing a
licensing system for the trade in firearms and the carrying of them by
private individuals.
(e) Commercial Law. —At the end of the year the “ Umm-al-Qura ” was
still publishing instalments of a commercial code of formidable
dimensions.
(f) Miscellaneous. —Various regulations were issued regarding the religious
courts, Wakfs, the Hejazi civil service, &c.
VIII.— Press.
173. The weekly “ Umm-al-Qura ” continues to be the only paper published
in Hejaz-Nejd. It retained throughout 1931 its character of an inspired organ,
not recognised as having an official character. The publicity given in its
columns to certain political matters was noteworthy, as, for instance, when it
produced attacks on the Amir Abdullah of 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 known to have been
written by Sheikh Yussuf Yasin, broadcasted the correspondence between the
Kin" and the Ulema of Nejd about the impropriety of annual accession celebra
tions, and refuted in language less bald than that of a mere dementi a report
circulated abroad that Ibn Saud contemplated abdication.
174. The official Press Bureau published a certain number of communiques,
but did not otherwise make itself felt as far afield as Jedda. Very little news
expressly intended for publication reaches the outside world from the Hejaz.
One,of the few advantages of diplomacy there is that it is possible to conduct
discussions even so controversial as that over 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 without
attracting the smallest attention in the outer world. Even the letters which
Mr. Philby used to send to the “ Near East ” ceased to appear after about the
middle of 1931, as he still prefers to write nil nisi bonum about Ibn Saud and
could find nothing good to write. The Hejazi Government themselves appear