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Coll 6/10 'Hejaz-Nejd Affairs: Financial Situation and Internal Situation' [‎258r] (522/1310)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (649 folios). It was created in 21 Jun 1928-26 Aug 1938. 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. .

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT
EASTERN (Arabia).
June 14, 1933.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 1.
[E 3133/234/25]
No. 1.
Sir A. Ryan to Sir John Simon.—(Received June 14.)
(No. 147.)
Sir,
Jedda, May 20, 1933.
SINCE I wrote my despatch No. 33 1 o f the 2nd August last incidental
reference only has been made in reports^ frorn this Legation to M. van Leeuwen.
the Dutch expert who entered the service of the Saudi Government in April 1932
as financial adviser. I have now to record his final departure from Jedda on the
18th May.
2. M. van Leeuwen returned from sick leave in or about October last. This
leave interrupted what was to have been a year of continuous service, to be
followed by a period of leave on full pay before his contract finally expired. I
believe it was agreed that he should draw no salary for the period of his absence
last year, and should make up for the time lost by serving for an additional three
months at the end of the vear originally contemplated.
3. Unfortunatelv M. van Leeuwen’s health has continued to be precarious.
He has had several bouts of illness during the spring, and this has been the
immediate cause of his leaving for good. It must be attributed in part, however,
to the hopelessness of his position in the Administration here. I do not thniK
that he has at any time been allowed to do more than write academic reports, and
it has been increasingly evident of late that he could play no effective ^^l® ^ ^
department dominated by the personality and methods of Sheikh Abdullah
Suleima were not i m p rove( | by M. van Leeuwen’s condemnation of the
National Bank scheme projected by the ex-Khedive and his associates. By the
time this was launched he had lost patience to such an extent that he abandoned
his previous attitude of discretion and expressed his adverse opinion to outsiders
rmro^i-P Ssnrli pimlpis were verv readv to think that his hostility to tne
their late adviser.
I have, &c.
ANDREW RYAN.

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Content

This volume largely consists of copies of Foreign Office correspondence, which have been forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India. The correspondence, most of which is between Foreign Office officials and either the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard) or His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires at Jedda (Cecil Gervase Hope Gill, succeeded by Albert Spencer Calvert), relates to financial and political matters in the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia).

The correspondence discusses the following:

  • The history of the Wahabi movement and Ibn Saud's [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd's] attitude towards Wahabism.
  • The currency exchange crisis in the Hejaz.
  • Requests from Ibn Saud for the British Government either to assist in establishing a British bank as a state bank in the Hejaz, or to provide a loan directly to the Hejazi Government (both requests are declined).
  • The British Minister at Jedda's accounts of his meetings both with Ibn Saud and with various Hejazi/Saudi Government officials.
  • A Hejazi-Soviet contract for the supply of Soviet benzine and relations between Soviet Russia and Hejaz-Nejd generally.
  • Tensions within the Hejazi Government.
  • The Hejazi Government's budgetary reforms.
  • The prospect of a new Saudi state bank, possibly backed by the financial assistance of the former ex-Khedive of Egypt [ʿAbbās Ḥilmī II].
  • The death of Emir Abdullah ibn Jiluwi [‘Abdullāh bin Jilūwī Āl Sa‘ūd].
  • Saudi-Egyptian relations.
  • The discovery of oil in Hasa.

In addition to correspondence the volume includes the following:

The volume includes three dividers, which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (649 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 651; 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. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 563-649 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Coll 6/10 'Hejaz-Nejd Affairs: Financial Situation and Internal Situation' [‎258r] (522/1310), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2074, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100050632226.0x00007b> [accessed 25 April 2024]

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