Page 102 - Arabian Studies (II)

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92 Arabian Studies U

end of October Anglo-Saxon had begun operations on Farasan and
requested Aden for protection in the form of a gunboat to
accompany a geologist to Farasan. Aden was, however, unable to
assist.8 8 Marconi agreed to install a wireless station on Farasan and
the International Wireless Bureau allotted a call signal.89 At this
point Anglo-Saxon transferred their concession to the Anglo-
Egyptian Oilfield which appears to be an allied company.
The Italians had not given up hopes of acquiring the Farasan
concession and they began to apply pressure on the population
within Idris! borders to induce the Sayyid to break the Mecca
Agreement with ibn Sa‘ud and to come to terms with the Imam: on
1 January 1927 an Italian ship bought supplies at Farasan at absurdly
high prices. In July the shaykh of Farasan visited Jlzan at Italian
instigation in the hope of persuading the Idris! to sign a treaty with
Italy.90

The Entry of the Sa(udis

In the concession granted to Anglo-Saxon there was a clause whereby
any disputes between the Idris! and the Company should be referred
to the arbitration of the Political Resident in Aden. The Company
wanted official British recognition of their concession in order, as far
as possible, to secure an official guarantee of the terms. The Idris!
thought that the establishment of British commercial interests in his
territory would lead to British political intervention if the existence
of the Idris! state was threatened. If Britain accepted the arbitration
clause the British Government, wrote the Resident, would be
regarded as having given ‘an official imprimatur’ to the agreement
and as having taken a definite step towards assuming a more active
interest in the future of the Idris! country in general and Farasan in
particular. The question as to whether Britain should accept the
arbitration clause was thus related to the future policy of the British
Government towards the IdrlsI. The Resident went on to say that if
close relations were established with the IdrlsI on the basis of the
1917 treaty it would ‘be easy to induce him to accept the decision of
the Resident in Aden on any point between him and the company’.
But if the British Government’s policy was to be one of non­
intervention the IdrlsI would have to fall back on ibn Sa‘ud and the
possibility of arbitrating effectively would be contingent on relations
between the British government and ibn Sa‘ud.91 In another letter in
November 1926 the Resident urged the Government to supply arms
itself to the IdrlsI in face of the three pronged attack the Imam was
expected to launch against the IdrlsI9 2 In order to defend British