Coll 6/8(1) 'Printed Series: 1929 to 1938.' [218v] (441/1062)
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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
14
C Pilqrimaqe receipts are two only of importance, .
(1) Koshan, which is reckoned at £3 a head for pilgrims
visiting Mecca (say 20,000 this year) .
or head (additional) for pilgrims who also visit Medina,
£S J f camel
according as they travel by ■( or
car.
This year probably 50 percent, of pilgrims may visit Medina,
^ but the majority travel by car; their yield would
thus be
(2) Mutawwifa 1 dues, of which, in the case of Malays and
Javanese, £4 per head goes to Government, i.e., say .
Other pilgrims yield £1 per head, or say ....
D. Quarantine dues are £7 gold per head, or say
Total revenue 1350-54 A. H.
£ gold.
60,000
20,000
15,000
20,000
619,000
(32)
(Received on 3rd April 1932, with Political Secretary’s letter No. P.-Z- 11, dated
17th March 1932.)
Enclosure in Foreign Office covering letter No. E./1206/165/25, dated the 14th March 1932.
Despatch from His Majesty’s Charge d’affaires, Jedda, to the
Foreign Office, No. 99, dated the 22nd February 1932.
With reference to Sir A. Ryan’s despatch No. 36 of the 21st January
(Enclosure to Serial No. 17) on the subject of the new budget, I have the
honour to report that the financial situation is as tangled as ever it was
I hope to be in a position to discuss the budget more fully at the end of the
month, but the following information may be of interest meanwhile.
2. We are now half way through the third month of the new financial
yea 11 . At the beginning of the first month, Sha’ban, the salaries of all
Government officials and employees were from four to eight months in arrear;
these arrears, they were told, would be paid in instalments from the appro
priation of revenue to be devoted to the extinction o 1 all debts equally. At
the end of the first month only 70 per cent, of the Sha’ban salaries and pay
was issued, and at the unfavourable rate of ten riya's to the gold £ in the
case of salaries payable in pounds. At the end of the second month,
Ramadhan, the majority received no pay at all, but the troops and police
were given the remaining 30 per cent, of their Sha’ban pay to keep them
quiet and contented.
3. Ramadhan is usually an expensive and busy month, when the
merchants and shopkeepers expect to do well. Even the poorest buy new
clothes for themselves and better food for their families and cut a dash at
the Bairam feast. This year there has been absolute stagnation in Mecca
and conditions w r ere but little better here. The whole population is too
crippled with debt to move. A general moratorium on all commercial and
private liabilities would seem inevitable. Hitherto, however, the only official
step in this direction has been the recent suspension by the Amir Feysal of
a series of judgments given by the Commercial Court in favour of a number
of Jedda merchants against the tradesmen of Mecca.
4. Yet money has been coming into the country. Customs duties and
quarantine dues, although certainly very much reduced, must have amount
ed to nearly £50,000 during the first two months of the financial year. There
is general speculation as to where the balance has gone, after the partial
payment of Sha’ban salaries. It is generally believed to have all gone to
Riadh and that for this reason no Ramadhan salaries have been paid. The
Indian Vice-Consul, who has recently returned from Mecca, assures me that
he had it on the reliable authority of a high official of the Finance Depart
ment, that £12,000 in gold and 100,000 silver riyals were sent to Riadh on
the 27th Remadhan.
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
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- Open Government Licence
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