Coll 6/8(1) 'Printed Series: 1929 to 1938.' [193v] (391/1062)
The record is made up of 1 volume (527 folios). It was created in 6 Jan 1929-15 Jan 1938. It was written in English and French. 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
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115
Sub-Enclosure to Serial No. (127).
Letteb fbom the Ofeiceb Commanding, E. 1V1. S. 1 enzance, to the Chief Com-
J missioneb, Aden, No. A.-317|4-A., dated the 24th September 1932.
I beg to report as follows.
1. On 16th September 1932, I stopped and examined the
dhow
A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean.
“ El Naser ,r
which cleared Aden on 10th September. On board was a boy, an enslave, a
member of the crew who was not named in the crew list ; the crew total was,
therefore, incorrect. The Nakhuda admitted that the boy was on board while
the
dhow
A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean.
was at Aden.
2. On 23rd September, I stopped and examined the
dhow
A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean.
“ Dai Khair ” r
which cleared Aden on 20th September. Here again was a boy, the admitted
slave of the Nakhuda, Yehia Kassim, who also had been on board while the
dhow
A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean.
was at Aden and whose name was not entered among’ the crew.
3. I would suggest that this concealment of boys by the Nakhudas presents
undesirable features, and beg to bring this matter to your notice.
( 128 )
{Received on 25th December 1932, with Political Secretary’s letter No. 49, dated
3rd December 1932.)
P.Z.-7391|32.
Despatch from His Majesty’s Charge d’affaires, Jedda, to the Foreign Office,
London, No. 428, dated the 19th October 1932.
The manager of the local “ Dutch Bank ”, a branch of the Handel
Maatschappij of Amsterdam, has imparted the following items of financial
interest :—
2. During the months of May, June, July and August his office was busily
employed in selling to about a dozen of the smaller merchants of Jedda and Mecca,
against gold, drafts on Bombay, Cairo and London. They amounted, in round
figures, to £150,000 sterling, and were divided about equally between those three
markets. Mr. Jacobs was of the opinion that the drafts on Bombay were required
to finance purchases of rice and other comestibles in time for the coming
pilgrimage season, that those on London were mainly for the purchase of cotton
goods, and that those on Cairo were connected with gambling on the gold
exchange. He made a point of stating that these figures excluded the business
preparations made by the really big local firms, such as Haii Abdullah ’Ali
Kidha’s, who conduct their own banking business. Nor, he thought, did they
include savings of the more fortunate Government servants placed abroad for
greater safety.
3. If Mr. Jacobs’s figures are approximately correct, as I take them to be,
they show that there was evidently still plenty of money in private hands ; at the
same time they betray an implicit faith in the size of the next pilgrimage, which
seems only too likely to have been misplaced. A couple of months ago the bazaar
gossip placed the coming Javanese pilgrimage with confidence at 40,000. Last
season it was 4,500. Next season, according to the shipping company, which has
reason to know best, it will be 1,500. Stocks are now heavy, and unless other
countries send unsuspected quantities of pilgrims, it will be very difficult to get
rid of the accumulation. 4
4. Mr. Jacobs was very despondent about Saudi Government finance.
During next month, he said, Government commitments mature to the tune of
£40,000 gold. He will have to handle these debts, but sees no hope of obtaining
payment. On the contrary, he foresees trouble and complications arising from
the fact that the gneater portion of them has been discounted and re-discounted
in Europe. This, I understand, to be the case with £15,000 owing to th^
Standard Oil Company through Messrs. Sharqieh (Limited), and £10,000 to
German firms represented by M. de Haas, the German consul ; these are
Mr. Jacobs’s figures. The other £15,000 are owing to the Marconi Company, also
through Messrs^ Sharqieh. Apart from these, Mr. Jacobs is aware of £5,000
gold owing to his own firm, £15,000 to the Shell Company, through Messrs.
Gellatly, Hankey and Co., £25,000 to the Qusaibis, and £30,000 to the Soviets for
od—a total external indebtedness, according to Mr. Jacobs, of £115,000 gold. To
this figure we can add £10,000 owing to the Government of Lidia, £2,500 to the
Eastern Telegraph Company, and £1,700 to His Maiesty’s Government—a
minimum grand total of some £125,000 gold.
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About this item
- Content
This volume compiles printed copies of letters, telegrams, memoranda and newspaper extracts relating to Britain's involvement across the Arabian Peninsula during the period 1929-1938. Whilst the correspondence encompasses all matters concerning British interests in the region, much of it relates to Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia). Matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:
- Reports of unrest in the Hejaz.
- Relations between Imam Yeha Hamid-Ud-Din [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn, Imam of Yemen] and Ibn Saud.
- Reports of raids and arms trafficking 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 -Nejd frontier.
- Reports of the proceedings of British naval ships in the Red Sea.
- Details of the Akhwan [Ikhwan] revolt against Ibn Saud, including the movements of one of the revolt's leaders, Faisal Dawish [Fayṣal bin Sulṭān al-Dawīsh], and his surrender to the British in Kuwait.
- Relations between Kuwait and Nejd.
- Relations between Iraq and Nejd, including a proposed meeting between Ibn Saud and King Faisal [Fayṣal] of Iraq, and reports of a treaty of alliance between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
- Objections from the Hejaz Government to Royal Air Force aircraft flying over Nejd territory.
- The purchase of arms by the Hejaz Government from Poland.
- Ibn Saud's annexation of Asir.
- The death of King Hussein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī].
- Harry St John Bridger Philby's conversion to Islam, his mapping of Rub-al-Khali, and his reported spreading of Saudi propaganda in the Aden Protectorate.
- The currency exchange crisis in the Hejaz-Nejd and the financial situation in the kingdom generally.
- Reports on a survey of the water and mineral content of the Hejaz coastal area.
- Relations between Soviet Russia and Saudi Arabia.
- The emigration of Jews from Yemen to Palestine, via Aden.
- British fears that Italy might harbour ambitions to annex Yemen.
- Saudi oil concessions.
- Italian-Saudi relations.
Prominent correspondents include the following: the British Agent (later His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires) at Jeddah; His Majesty's Minister at Jeddah; the High Commissioner for Egypt; the High Commissioner for Iraq; the High Commissioner for 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 ; the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Kuwait; the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. (later Chief Commissioner, and later still, Governor), Aden; the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; His Majesty's Ambassador to Iraq; His Majesty's Ambassador to Italy; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; the Minister (and Acting Minister) for Foreign Affairs for the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia); Ibn Saud; King Feisal of Iraq; the Prime Minister of Iraq; various officials of the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, the Air Ministry, and the Admiralty.
The French material in the volume consists of several items of correspondence and a copy of a treaty between France and Yemen, which was signed in April 1936.
The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (527 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
The items of correspondence are divided (roughly) into various sections. Each extract or item of correspondence within these sections has its own number, which is enclosed in brackets. These numbers proceed in ascending (and approximate chronological) order from left to right; however, the sections themselves proceed in reverse, from the rear to the front of the volume, in distinct groups (e.g. for 1929 numbers 1-23, which are located at folios 517-526, are followed by numbers 24-49 at folios 509-516, which are then followed by numbers 50-89 at folios 494-508, and so on).
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 529; 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.
Pagination: each section of correspondence within the volume (as described in the arrangement field) has its own pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2071
- Title
- Coll 6/8(1) 'Printed Series: 1929 to 1938.'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:5v, 6v, 8v:10r, 11r:14r, 15r:20r, 21r:21v, 22v, 24v:26v, 27v:30r, 32r:41v, 43r:46v, 48r:48v, 49v:52v, 53v, 55v:58r, 59r:60r, 61r:70r, 71v:77v, 78v:79r, 80v:81v, 82v:93v, 95r:101v, 102v:104v, 106r:108r, 109v:110v, 111v:113v, 115r:120v, 122r:123r, 124r:126v, 127v, 128v:130v, 132r, 133v:137r, 139r:154r, 155r, 156r:157v, 159r:166r, 167r, 168r:171r, 172r:174r, 175r:175v, 176v:177v, 180v:181r, 182v, 183v:184v, 187v:188r, 191r:198r, 199r:199v, 200v:201r, 202r, 203r:203v, 206r:207r, 210r:211v, 213r:220r, 223v:224v, 226r:226v, 228r, 230v:234v, 236r, 237r:252r, 253v:257v, 259r:260v, 262r:262v, 264r:268v, 269v:276r, 277v:278v, 279v:281r, 282v:285r, 287r:288r, 289r:292v, 295r:296v, 297v:307r, 308r, 309r:316v, 318r:320v, 322r, 324r:325r, 327r, 329r:331r, 332r:335r, 336r:337v, 338v:345r, 347r:348r, 350v, 353v:358v, 360r:363r, 364v:365v, 366v:371r, 372v:375r, 376v, 377v:379v, 383r:383v, 384v:385r, 387v:389r, 390r:391v, 395v:400v, 401v:412v, 414v:420r, 422r:433v, 435v:437v, 440r:447v, 449r:449v, 451v:459r, 460r:463v, 465r:468v, 469v:471r, 474r:477r, 480r:485r, 486v:492v, 494r:507r, 508v:511r, 512r:513v, 514v, 516r:518v, 520r:522r, 523r:528v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence
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