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instructing the Board of Trade to suspend such issue. Assurances
having been given to the King of the Hejaz in 1927 that he would be
free to purchase arms in the open market led to the conclusion
that a refusal to issue the licence would result in an accusation
against His Majesty's Government of breach of good faith. Not
wishing to antagonise Ibn Saud it was decided to issue the licence
and explain to Messrs. Gellatly, Hankey & Company that there was no
need to hurry the shipment unduly and that when the ship sailed
we should be given full details of ports of call, etc. When the
time came for shipment the firm were informed that the state of
affairs between Iraq and Nejd remained unaltered and that while
permission for shipment would not be refused it would be necessary
to detain the consignment at Port Sudan pending a solution of the
matters outstanding with Ibn Saud. However, it was eventually
decided not to await the outcome of the negotiations with the King
of the Hejaz and, after a short detention at Port Sudan, authority
was given for the release of the ammunition.
Civil war in Afghanistan, 1929.
4.
In January 1929 the Afghan Minister called at the Foreign
Office and stated that he had received a private message from ex-
King Amanulla instructing him to ascertain whether His Majesty's
Government would render assistance by supplying Amanulla with arms
and ammunition in order to enable him to recover the throne. He
was informed that it was regretted that international considerations
prevented the interference by His Majesty's Government in the
internal affairs of Afghanistan by giving assistance in the form of
arms to one or other of the parties when there was no generally
acknowledged ruler or government in the country.
5. Subsequently the Second Secretary to the Afghan Legation
informed us that the Afghan Minister had been instructed by ex-King
Amanulla to proceed to Herat and that he wished to purchase and take
with.
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