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Coll 35/6 'Arabia: Hejaz-Nejd; wireless stations; postal and telegraph communications with the outside world' [‎285r] (569/1031)

The record is made up of 1 file (514 folios). It was created in 21 Sep 1925-17 Mar 1948. 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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F'Q . 0 Vl 2 /
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY f S GOVERNMENT
t
EASTERN (Arabia).
CONFIDENTIAL.
[E 6127/74/25]
October 1 , 1934.
Section 5.
No. 1 .
I
External Telegraphic Communications of Saudi Arabia.
. u subject is adverted to in the general records of the conversations
with Fuad Bey Hamza on the 19th September, but it may be convenient to have
a separate comprehensive record of all that has passed up to date, as the matter
falls to be dealt with independently of the more or less political questions which
have been discussed;
2 . Following on huad Bey’s reference to the Eastern Telegraph Company
at the third general conversation on the 21 st September, it was found
impiacticable to bring the Sudan Government into any further discussion during
the short period of Fuad Bey s stay in London. In any case, that Government,
although interested as joint owners of the Jedda-Port Sudan cable,O are much
less effectively concerned than Cable and Wireless (Limited).
3. Marconi s had previously expressed a wish to see me about a report of
mine in July on the alleged intention of the Saudi Government to erect a wireless
station at Makhlaf in Najran. 1 took advantage of this to get into touch,
through Mr. Farrer of the Department of Overseas Trade, with both Marconi’s
and Cable and Wireless (Limited). Representatives of the two companies came
to see me early on the 24th September, Mr. H. C. Van de Velde for Marconi’s
and Mr. A. Sabater for Cable and Wireless (Limited).
4. Mr. Van de Velde told me that, since approaching the Department of
Overseas Trade, Marconi’s had heard from their local agent, Mr. Philby, that
there appeared to be no truth in the press report that the Saudi Government
intended to erect a new wireless station in Najran. All that was intended was
to utilise there one of the existing wireless sets. I told him that I had no
information except what had appeared in the L mm-al-Qura newspaper before
I left Jedda, and that Air. Philby’s report corresponded with what I should
ha\e expected. I also said that, although I had mentioned in the same report
to the Foreign Office, the presentation of automatic telephones by the Soviet to
the haudi Government, I saw no connexion between the two items of information
except that both bore on the general question of Saudi communications. I did
not know to what use the Saudi Government intended to put the automatic
telephones. Air. Van de Velde understood from Air. Philby that thev had been
moved to Riadh.
5. With regard to the general question of Saudi Arabia’s external
communications, Air. Sabater agreed after some discussion that, while no
commitments could be entered into without reference to the board of Cable and
Wireless (Limited), it might be useful for representatives of the company to
have a quite informal and non-committal discussion with Fuad Bey. I need not
record further what passed in my own preliminary conversation 1 with him. as
much the same ground was covered later, except that he seemed inclined to think
that the monopoly given to the Eastern Telegraph Company by article 6 of
their Working Agreement with the joint owners of the Jedda-Port Sudan cable
might be held to extend to the whole of Saudi Arabia, and that Cable and
Wireless might be themselves imperilling their position by agreeing to anv
external wireless service. I reminded him that proposals for such a service
between Hasa and the outer world were already in train. I said that the le°’al
question regarding the scope of the Eastern Telegraph Company monopoly had
never been threshed out, but expressed the purely personal view that the Saudi
Government were justified in considering, as they did. that the monopoly clause
affected the Hejaz only. * ' J
6 . As a result of these preliminaries, Captain N. J. C. Lawson, °'eneral
manager of Cable and Wdreless (Limited), and Mr. Sabater, met Fuad Bev and
Sheikh Hafiz Wahba under my auspices at 11 a.m. on the 25th September, at
231 a—5]
( l ) See Aunex.
B

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Content

The file concerns postal communications in the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd and, later, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The file covers:

  • Desire of Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] to establish wireless stations in Hejaz and Nejd, 1926-29
  • Proposed wireless communication between Riyadh and Baghdad, to be provided by the Marconi Company, 1929
  • Training of local subjects, 1931
  • Contract with the Marconi Company, 1931
  • Establishment of postal communications between Hasa [al-Aḥsā’] and foreign countries via Bahrain, 1933
  • New wireless stations in Saudi Arabia, 1933
  • Proposed establishment of wireless telecommunications between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia: negotiations between Cable and Wireless and the Saudi Government, 1934-35
  • Saudi regulations regarding importation and licensing of wireless sets, 1935
  • Proposed conference at Jedda regarding wireless communications in Saudi Arabia, 1935
  • Discussion with Governor-General of Sudan and Cables and Wireless regarding the Jedda - Port Sudan Cable agreement, 1935-40
  • Post and wireless experts required by Saudi Government, 1938
  • Communications between Saudi Arabia and the United States for use of the Arabian American Oil Company, proposed wireless station at Dhahran, 1944.

The file is composed of correspondence between: the British Legation to Jeddah; the Foreign Office; the 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. ; the High Commissioner for Iraq; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; the Air Ministry; the General Post Office in London; the Legation of Hedjaz and Nejd to London; the Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; the Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. at Bahrain; the Viceroy and Governor-General of India in Council; Cable and Wireless, Limited (Imperial and International Communications Limited); the Committee of Imperial Defence; the Governor-General of Sudan; the British Embassy in Cairo; the Resident Minister in Cairo; the United States Embassy in London; the British Embassy in Washington DC; Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO); and the Commonwealth Relations Office.

There is a newspaper cutting from The Times, and extracts from Um al-Qura and Sawt al-Hijaz.

Extent and format
1 file (514 folios)
Arrangement

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

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 515; 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.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Coll 35/6 'Arabia: Hejaz-Nejd; wireless stations; postal and telegraph communications with the outside world' [‎285r] (569/1031), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/4109, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100060950279.0x0000ac> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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