Lord RAGLANMy Lords, I beg to ask His Majesty's Government what stage the prolonged negotiations with the King of the Hejaz have now reached and whether it is a fact that the Wahhabis are in occupation of portions of the Hejaz. It may be said, I think, without exaggeration that it is notorious to all who take an interest in these matters that the policy of His Majesty's Government with regard to the Hejaz during the last few years has caused great dissatisfaction throughout the Mahomedan world. There are many reasons for this. Two of them are that the majority of Mahomedans regard the Sultan of Turkey as the rightful guardian of the Holy Places, and that the lack of security and general anarchy and mis-government in the Hejaz, and the interruption of the Hejaz Railway, have greatly increased the difficulties of the pilgrimage. What the Government's present policy is with regard to the Hejaz it is difficult to say—it is kept extremely dark—but whatever it is it has not resolved itself into action. The state of the Hejaz is getting gradually worse. According to the latest report the Wahhabis are advancing on Mecca and the King of the Hejaz is a fugitive.
THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (THE EARL OF CRAWFORD)My Lords, I certainly have no information to confirm the last statement made by the noble Lord. The King of the Hejaz, it is true, has displayed uncommonly little anxiety during the last few months to expedite the negotiations connected with the Treaty, to which reference has been made in the course of replies to previous Questions put by Lord Raglan. Matters, so far as I can learn, remain very much as they were. The frontiers of the Hejaz 269 are still undefined, with the result that the ownership of certain outlying districts has not as yet been finally decided. Though reports have been received regarding the spread of Wahhabi tenets amongst the tribes to the east of Mecca and Medina, it would be incorrect to say, for the reasons I have just stated, that the Hejaz is partially in the occupation of the followers of the Sultan of Nejd. I repeat what I said to Lord Raglan a few weeks ago, that if a Treaty is concluded it will be laid before Parliament before ratification, should Parliament desire to discuss it.
LORD RAGLANMay I point out that it was five months ago that I put the Question, and the noble Earl then stated that he hoped and expected that the negotiations would be shortly concluded?
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDIf I said so my expectations were entirely wrong, but it is not owing to any delay on the part of the Government.