"ملف 8/15 سلسلة الجزيرة العربية - ١٩٣٣-١٩٣٩" [و‎‎١‎٣‎٦] (٤٣٤/٢٧١)

5. At 0900 on 3rd June, accompanied by Mr. Burchell, Gunner, I
landed, being received by the Captain of the Port; the General Officer
Commanding, HodeFda,—now in plain clothes; a member of the Governor’s
suite and Mr. Saleh Jaffar. A guard of Jionour with band were drawn up
on the quay.
After inspection of the Guard I proceeded to call on His Excellency
Seiyid Abdullah A1 Wazir, My reception was most cordial, and through
out our conversation, the keynote was friendliness towards Britain, and
distrust of Italy, the view being freely expressed that it would be the Yemen
next. The Wgjzir was most eager to hear news of events in Abyssinia and
wished particularly to know if it was true that the British Legation Guard
had been withdrawn from Addis Ababa.
Apparently there had been a persistent rumour in the Yemen to this
effect. He showed a great interest in and knowledge of the general poli
tical situation in Europe, and was keen to know in what form the League
of Nations—of which the Yemeni have no great opinion—could be made
more effective. We parted on terms of cordial friendliness, with the Wazir
expressing the desire to visit the ship on the following day should condi
tions of weather and ma^il day permit.
* # =* *
8 . TTnlortunatdy the Wazir was unable to come himself owing to pres
sure of work arising from the fact that it wns mail day. A number of the
members of his staff and other high officials were detailed to represent him.
This party 'conlisted of Kazir-Ali Al-Amri, Secretary to Governor and
brother of the Prime Minister; Salim Bey, the General Officer Command
ing, Hoedida; Qahdi Abdullah A1 Hodaid, one of the assistants to the
Governor; Muhsin Jalala, Port Officer, at one time barber to the King of
the Yemen.
* * * *
The visit extended over one and a half hours and concluded with many
compliments and expressions of friendship on both sides.
* # *
Mr. Saleh Jaffar was most helpful to me throughout our stay, and gave
me every assistance, besides acting as interpreter during my official calls
and receptipns.
* # # *
( 67 )
Letter from His Majesty’s, Minister, Jedda, to the Foreign Office,
No. 225, dated 28th July 1936.
I have the honour to refer to Sir Andrew Ryan’s despatch No. 21
of the 13th January last [S. No. (22)], in which he describe the develop
ments up to that date in the operations of the Saudi Arabian Mining
Syndicate (Limited), and to submit a further brief report on the subse
quent progress of this concern, in order to supplement the brief references
to the subject that have been made from time to time in Jedda reports.
2. The four prospecting parties referred to in the enclosure to the
despatch under reference left Jedda early in January in various directions.
Little was heard of their subsequent progress, except that at the end of
that month reports reached the Jedda office of the syndicate that trouble
had befallen certain members of the parties. This was probably not more
serious than mechanical breakdowns of their motor vehicles, but for a time