File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [‎443v] (891/898)

first published the accusation. This being so, it is particularly absurd that King Faisal’s
delegates should revire the charge. detained at Medina as hostages,
For a long whde Ham Z ah-al-Ghauths hum y^. thp ]eading came l m e n
s sgis&rfc t '“s;?. a atrcws ssaur
S'“;SXs:“s:S”r„ !;•“!?«» w ** ** -■
discovered.
Hedjaz Railway.' tViP most Drominent defects in his administration.
King Hussem realises tha one p .. to wor ^i 11£ y order. It has been already
i his failure to restore the ^ 0 .^^ carr ied out were only sufficient to
reported that such T ®P^ irs a ®. 1 , 1 , ith difficulty. Fortunately for the King,
get one train through to Medina, and . th ^ J.^^Xrwards making it possible to
however, the Wahabi raids occune imn c | fiasco, like every other defect
attribute all the damage to Bin Sand. ; ^ sse [ n ^ as the Hedjaz press is
or abuse 10 tlm He^jja^ Sand are the occupying Powers
poiiiting^mdt-at Tehg . ^ FT tninTi Heir hmids^dwayirTTe&wisLhich are Moslem wakfs.
in Syria and Palestine, who retain in the] > action of the French in
Tim Hedjaz Railway wakf - less thai,
handing over to Palestine, in ^ of t ke railway is purelv Zionist
loc, motives and sixty o nages. The must admire the zeal of King Hussein,
dfi , tdliTout hif own private funds for the repair of the line. He has over
hundred stations to repairVlems are not called
wl ch during the war, King Hussein destroyed those stations), to estimate the cost ot
ih s (and apparently o help pay for it) is left to the conscience of all pious Moslems,
icfslems iTcn^tL world" should bring pressure to bear on Aeir Governments m
order to secure the restoration of wakf rights and the delivery of the Hedjaz Ka y
to the Islamic Committee established in Medina. _ £ ^ 1
The president of this Islamic Committee is the Sheikh of the Prophets tomb,
whose business training is confined to the exploitation of pilgrims his acquaintance
w th railways to watcldng the trains come in at Medina station The employment of
the Bishop of London and Dean Inge as railway managers m place ol Sir Huy Hianet
an Sir Sam Fay might seem absurd, if not dangerous, m England but a corresponding
appointment seems no more absurd to King Hussein than does his cool request t a
the three working sections of the line should be handed over to the possessors ol the
only section that does not work . _
The King’s inspection of the railway line has produced, besides the appomlrnent
of the pious managing committee and the press attacks on tlm-Hritish and French^ the
obvious expedient of raising money~ToruKe nominal purpose of repairing the line.
Hence the tentative suggestion that Moslems all over the world should subscribe as
they did, it will be remembered, in Abdul Hamids time for the constiuction or the
railway. ' Hence the order that the wretched Hedjaz officials should devote a month s
pay to the line, although they are still feeling the pinch ol the forced levy of a month s
pay for the Mosque of Umar. And hence, finally and obviously, new taxes, rsot a
sparrow falls to the ground but the King taxes the man who picks it up. ihe new
taxes are of two categories. The Turkish expedient of a special Hedjaz Railway stamp
has been introduced, the Hedjaz stamp being, however, of more than twice the value
of the Turkish. On every document which is bound by law to bear a stamp, t.c.,
practically every document of whatever kind, an additional stamp, beanng the
inscription “ Hedjaz Railway ” and costing 1 piastre gold (he., over 2d.) has now toj
be affixed. The other class of tax consists of a cess on all imported goods, varying,
according to the nature of the goods, from 1 to 10 piastres on packet, kcd e >
baulk of timber, &c. Thus the import trade, already staggering under the weight ol
taxes, receives another blow. In place of the inclusive tax of 11 per cent, ad valorem
which they paid in Turkish times, imports now pay:
1. Import dues which though nominally from 18 to 25 per cent, work out at 25 to
40 per cent, or even 50 or 60 per cent, owing to the method of using as the
basis of calculation, not the invoice price, but the retail price in the Jeddah
bazaar.
2. A public works cess of 3 piastres gold (B^d.) on each “piece. ’
3. The new Hedjaz Railway taxes.