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Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction' [40r] (84/940)
The record is made up of 1 file (468 folios). It was created in 20 Mar 1949-13 Dec 1949. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
-7-
6 « Gommunlcations
The Government has in progress a number of projects of
which the most important are connected with communications.
Deep water jetties are under construction at Jedda, and at
^ Damman on the east coast. The road from Jedda to Medina
is to be graded and metalled, and there is talk of doubling
the road from Jedda to Mecca, A railway is under
construction from Dhahran and Damman to Riyadh, though it is
doubtful when or whether it will be taken beyond Abquiq.in
the oil fields; despite favourable reports by the American
engineers who conducted the survey for the line, it is
questionable whether its extension to Riyadh would be an
economic proposition. In addition, the Government-owned
Saudi-Arabian Airlines provide an effective, if irregular,
system of trans-peninsular air services. Other projects of
lesser economic importance, although of great value in
instilling an appreciation of higher standards of living,
are the supply of electricity to Jedda, Mecca and Taif, to
be followed shortly by Medina, and the provision of a pure
and adequate water supply for Jedda, This last, although
not complete, is already operative, and is of the greatest
benefit to the health and comfort of the town people.
There is also a Government scheme for the installation
of modern telephone systems in the towns of the Hejaz,
7# Education
Educational facilities are restricted and rudimentary,
and are confined entirely to the towns. There are a fairly
large number of Coranic schools teaching reading, writing
and religious subjects only: otherwise the existing schools are:
(a) Government primary schools in each of the main towns,
(b) Secondary schools at Jedda, Mecca, Medina and Taif where
English is taught: a privately run secondary school at
Jedda,
(c) An establishment called the ’'Saudi school for Overseas
Missions at Mecca with the function of preparing
selected students for universities elsewhere,
(d) The Arabian-American oil company have undertaken an
educational scheme at Dharan which is mainly intended to
benefit their own operations by raising the standard
of their intake of labour but which has received some
government encouragement.
There are no facilities for university education; and the
upper classes have to go to Beirut or elsewhere for further
training.
Until recently medical work in Saudi Arabia was conducted
almost entirely by Syrians. A small group of Syrian
doctors was established at Jedda under a Syrian director
for public health. In 1948, however, a British public
health expert, Doctor Corkill, and an expert in pathology,
Colonel Manifold were appointed to advise on the re-organisation
of the health services with particular reference to the
pilgrim quarantine arrangements, and a British eye specialist.
Doctor Longinotto has been working for the past 2-g- years in •
the Jedda Government General Hospital. In addition, a field
ambulance, manned by two German doctors, has been travelling
round the interior.
/The
About this item
- Content
The file contains papers relating to the Middle East (Official) Committee. It consists of: papers circulated to members of the Committee, received by the External Department of the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO); a few items of CRO correspondence with the Foreign Office, the Cabinet Office, and Commonwealth governments; and a register of papers received or sent by the CRO relating to the Committee, with internal CRO correspondence (at the back of the file).
The file includes agendas for meetings of the Committee, and minutes of the meetings on 28 April, 5 May, 5 July and 19 July 1949. Matters discussed and recorded in the minutes include: the reconstitution of the Committee; the re-settlement of Arab refugees from Palestine; the report on Economic and Social Development in the Middle East by the Working Party of the Committee; the future work of the Committee; the Conference of HM Representatives in the Middle East to be held in London from 26 to 29 July 1949; United States President Truman’s ‘Fourth Point’ (Truman’s message of 24 June 1949 to the United States House of Representatives, communicating a ‘Recommendation for the Enactment of Legislation to Authorise an Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance for Underdeveloped Areas of the World’); and further studies of the Working Party.
The file also includes the following papers prepared by (or approved by) the Working Party of the Committee: draft, revised and interim versions of the report on Economic and Social Development in the Middle East; papers relating to the economic and social development of Iraq, Syria, Greater 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 , Egypt, the Lebannon, Saudi Arabia, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, Eritrea and Somalia, and the Colony of Aden and the Aden Protectorate; and a paper on Middle East oil.
In addition, the file includes other papers relating to matters discussed at the meetings, and the following subjects: 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 ; irrigation development in Iraq; Persia’s [Iran’s] Seven Year Plan for development; informal conversations on social and economic affairs in the Middle East between representatives of the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the British Embassy in Washington, and the United States State Department; the work of the Development Division of British Middle East Office; a survey of the oil resources of the Middle East; and economic development in Cyprus in relation to the Middle East.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (468 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate reverse chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
Numbers in red pen on the top right hand corner of items in the file refer to entries in the register of papers received and sent by the Commonwealth Relations Office at the back of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 468; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction' [40r] (84/940), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/4756, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100043455634.0x000055> [accessed 20 April 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/4756
- Title
- Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:42r, 43r:116v, 120r:259v, 261r:294v, 296r:436v, 442r:468v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence