'File 11/2 Diaries and Report: Arabia Series' [‎14v] (28/220)

11
him a copy of despatch to the Foreign Office, No.
1936, regarding Presentation of credentials ol new
60, dated the 28th February-
Persian Minister in Jedda.
Reference to 'previous correspondence :
Jedda printed despatch No. 15 of 4th February 1936 [Enclosure to Serial
No. (13)].
[Enclosure to
Letter from
Serial No. (21)].
His Majesty’s Minister, Jedda, to the Foreign Office, No. 60,
DALED THE 28TH FEBRUARY 1936.
With reference to my despatch No. 40 of February 4th [Enclosure to Serial No
(13)], I have the honour to state that Monsieur Soltan Ahmed khan Had presented
his credentials as Iranian Minister at the Court to His Majesty king Abdul Aziz
on February 25th.
2. I have met M. Rad more than once and have found him pleasant and I should
say reasonably intelligent. His diplomatic experience outside Iran seems to have
been small. He served in the Persian Embassy in Constantinople lor a couple ot
years not long before the Great War but has spent most of his official life at home
under various departments of the Iranian Government, including the Ministry ot
Foreign Affairs, under which he served as “ Karguzar in the provinces, and the
Ministry of Justice. He had been President of a section of the Court ol Cassation
for six or seven years before he was appointed to Cairo about two years ago. He
speaks French fairly well and appears to have a good knowledge of Arabic besides
a knowledge of Turkish which I have not tested.
3. M. Rad has no intention of spending much of his time in this country. He
told me on February 10th that he might not even leave a secretary here on his
return to Egypt but simply close the Legation in Jedda, which serves no useful
purpose except to a small extent round about pilgrimage time.
4. We have not yet met Madame Rad, who came here with her husband. I
understand that she is only semi-veiled and is willing to appear in society.
5. I am sending copies of this despatch to the Government of India, Tehran and
Cairo.
( 22 )
[Received on 29th March 1936, with the Political Secretary's letter No. 11, dated
the 12th March 1936.)
Enclosure in Foreign Office covering letter dated 4th March 1936.
Letter from His Majesty’s Minister, Jedda, to the Foreign Office, No. 21,
DATED THE 13TH JANUARY 1936.
With reference to Mr. Calvert’s despatch No. 339 of the 26th November [Serial
No. (10)]. I have the honour to state that, in view of the great development of the
operations of the Saudi Arabian Mining Syndicate (Limited), during my absence
from Jedda last year, I requested Mr. Calvert to prepare a general memorandum on
the position reached by the end of 1935. Although this memorandum includes
certain information which has already been reported to your Department, it adds
a good deal that has come to the knowledge of the Legation since the date of the
despatch under reference and gives a useful comprehensive picture of what has
become the most important industrial enterprise in the west of Saudi Arabia. 1
therefore enclose a copy of it.
2. Most of the information collected by Mr. Calvert is fairly generally known
here, but I would ask that section (c) should be regarded as confidential, especially
as the map mentioned in the third sentence was shown privately to the member of my
staff concerned by a subordinate employee of the syndicate, who thought afterwards
that he had committed an indiscretion. The Legation has to reckon with the fact
that Mr. Twitched, the general manager, is a somewhat secretive person, who might
easily make it more difficult to obtain information, if he thought it were likely to be
made public.