مجموعة ٦ / ٨ (١) "سلسلة مطبوعة: ١٩٢٩ إلى ١٩٣٨". [ظ‎‎١‎٢‎٨] (١٠٦٢/٢٦١)

.HnanK*'.''*
His Majesty’s Government resrard it, however as a vital-imperial ivitor-
est that no European Power should establish itself on Kama ran
Island and that tlm Island should not fall into the hands of an un
friendly 'Arab ruler,” I
I am sending copips, of this, letter to McjOlaughry- Warner and' Laithwaite-
xr , OT , nm . Q o vnegel of some three Hundred tons from Beirut formerly
tliese skamm, ,1 renamed “ El i’ath ” arrived off Jedda on
C&t May'and saUed for Jizan two days later. The other, also Irom Beirut
and to be named “ El Nasr ”, has not yet arrived.
2 It would appear that this Company, like the ‘ Arabian Export Com-
mm ’ described it my despatch No. O.T. U of the 4th April last originated m
the'fertile brain of the Minister of Finance, who intended at first to use tne
ships for military transport, but has now conceived the idea of using them tor
commerce and possibly for the transport ot pilgrims, m the future, iaheykli
Muhammad Serur as-Sabban, manager of the Export Co. fills the same posmon
in the Steam Navigation Co., and the Amir h ejsal, huad amza, SneiU
Yusuf Yasin, and other notables are shareholders. The hrm of Huseyii.
’Awavni, a Syrian well-known connexion with the Lancashire trade anil through
his association with the projects of Mr. A. G. Ydlibi, are to act as shipping-
ae-ents. The steamers themselves are said to have been bought from or through,
a certain Haji Khalil Tabbara, described as the pilgrim agent of Messrs.
Gellatlv. Haukey & Co. (Sudan), Ltd. of Beirut.
3. It is clear that the new company, while ostensibly a private concern, is
in fact primarily a Government enterprise, representing the first attempt of the
Saudi Government to enter the realms'of coninrsrcia. navigation. Indeed Slieykh
Yusuf Yasin, while stressing the commercial character of the Company in con
versation with me a few days ago, said that the Government had undertaken to
guarantee any loss on working*. The Government may be encouragod^ in this
venture by the success of the motor-car companies, which form a parallel instance 5
of semi private, Government-controlled concerns and which v ere originally in
tended for Government transport but now carry-the bulk of the pilgrim-traffic;
within the country.
4. It may be recalled in this connexion that in the latter part of King
Hussein’s reign, the Hashimite Government acquired at least four small vessels
of this type and employed them either for coastal- work or for transport of
pilgrims, whom they sometimes forced to travel by them. Two or three of
these vessels were attached in Egypt, I believe by order of a court, in satis
faction of claims against them and efforts made by the Saudi Government to
retrieve them after the fall of Jedda were unsuccessful. Another had been
mortgaged to members of the Al-Fadhl family m Jedda and passed into their
hands. It subsequently became more or less, derelict and I do not know what lias
happened to it.
5. I am sending copies of this desnatch to His Majesty’s Principal Secre
tary of State for Foreign Affairs and H. M. Consul-General at Beirut.,
(A eceived on 4lh August-1934, with Political Secretary’s letter No. 29, dated
the 19th July 1934.)
Enclosure in Admiralty covering letter, dated 13th July 1934.
Letter from the Admiralty, to the Colonial Office, No. M.-01 : 858|34, dated the
13th July 1934.
In reply to your letter to Startin of the 25th June. No. 37926|34,1 am writing
to say that we concur in your draft despatch to the Resident at Aden about the
status of Kanuran. We would like, however, to suggest the addition to para-
graoh 2 of the following sentence, giving the sense of the first part of paragraph
4 of the Record of the Rome Conversations of the 7th February 1927 [Serial
No. (169) in F: No. 42? (IT)-N. 126-27]