GOOD FRIENDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 226, 24 September 1927, Page 9

GOOD FRIENDS.

BRITONS AND ARABS. Treaty Of Amity Entered Upon. WITH HEJAZ AND NEJD. (British Official Wireless.)

(Received 1 p.m.) RUGBY, September 23. The text is issued of a treaty of friendship and good understanding - between Great Britain and the king- '. dom of Hejaz and the emirate of Nejd ( and its dependencies which, was signed at Jeddah, Arabia, on May 20, and which was ratified there on September 17, together with the Notes exchanged relative thereto. The treaty was negotiated by Sir Gilbert Clayton and Emir Feisul, son of the King of the Hejaz and Nejd. Article 1 provides for British recognition of the complete and absolute independence of the dominions of the King of Hejaz and Nejd and its dependencies. Article 2 provides for peace and friendship between the contracting parties, each undertaking to use all available means to prevent its territories being used as a base for unlawful activities directed against tranquillity in other territories.

Articles 3 and 4 provide that pilgrimages of British subjects and Britishprotected persons and property shall be safeguarded while in Hejaz and that in the event of the death of any such pilgrims their possessions shall be forwarded to their rightful heir 9 through the British agent in Jeddah. Article 5 provides for mutual recogni- , tion of national status of subjects, it i being understood that the principles of ' international law in force between independent governments shall be respected. Article 6 provides for maintenance of friendly relations by Hejaz and Nejd with the territories of Kuwait and Bahrain and the Oman Coast, which are in special treaty relations with the British Government. Article 7 contains an undertaking to co-operate with the British Government in the suppression of the slave trade. In the Notes which have been ex- .' changed Great Britain adheres to her

definition of the frontier between Hejaz and the trana -Jordan and while Hejaz finds it impossible in the present circumstances to effect a final settlement of this question an undertaking is given to maintain the status quo in the main Aqaba district and not to interfere in ita administration until favourable circumstances permit of a final settlement. In a further Note the British Government express their inability to renounce the right of manumitting slaves which had long been practised by British Consular ofiicers and which enables them to liberate any slave who freely presents himself with a request for liberation and repatriation to his country of origin. It is explained that the British Government's insistence is solely based on humanitarian grounds, and is not meant as an interference with Hejaz affairs. Emir Feisal recently visited England. and it is probable that the terms of the treaty were then discussed. Feisal was the leader of the Hejaz Expeditionary Force which co-operated with the British Army through the agency of Colonel T. E. Lawrence. The latter accompanied Feisal to the Peace Conference in Paris, and afterwards championed the claims of the Hejaz.