THRONE OF MECCA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 24 November 1924, Page 6

THRONE OF MECCA.

ABDICATION OF KING HUSEIN.

Dr. Naji-el-Assilj tlie Hashimite representative in- London, has received official confirmation of the news or King Husein’s abdication in favour ois his eledst son, the Sherif Ali, Emir of Medina. Mr. MacDonald has sent an official answer to the appeal of the Hashimite Government for assistance against the-Wahabis. The British Government maintains its point of view and refuses to intervene in what it considers to be 3, religious dispute. Trustworthy information from a source acquainted with the policy of the Sultan of Nejd, who is the ruler of the Wahabis, suggests that the attack against the Hejaz is only a raid on a very large scale. Xts object is exclusively plunder and ransom. The Sultan of Nejd is believed to attach no importance to the possession of the Holy Places of Mecca, the sanctity of

which the Wahabi creed does not. recognise, and lias no desire, to get into difficulties with foreign Powers over the pilgrim question. 1 The accessioii of King Ali to the throne of the Hejaz may improve relations \v T ith Great Britain, which in the last months of his father’s reign were not satisfactory. Not long before

the Wahabi raid the new King, who was then Emir Abdullah, the ruler ol the Transjordan, took part in a Crown Council, at which they both signed a declaration accepting the terms of the draft Anglo-Hejazi Treaty proposed hv the British Government. First of all, however, the new King will have to free his territory from the presence of the Wahabi invaders by an agreement, if it he possible, with the Sultan Ibn Saud of Nejd. KING ALI’S TITLE. The Times’ Alexandria correspondent telegraphs: The Hashimite Agency in Cairo has been advised from Mecca that c after King Husein’s abdication on Friday his eldest son, the Sherif Ali, | Emir of Medina, was elected by, the people constitutional King of the Hejaz. I am officially informed that the Emir Zeid, the new King’s half-brother, has started for London, in order to sound the British Government and discuss the new situation which has arisen in the

Hejaz. With reference to the accession of King Ali in Mecca, it should, he noted that the announcement makes mention

of the fact that his Majesty has accepted the title of King of the Hejaz only. This appears to imply that the Caliphate which his father assumed in March last, soon after the deposition of the Ottoman Caliph Abdul Mejid in Constantinople, is now again in abeyance. The importance of the new title is that it removes the principal cause of strife which existed during the late rp-ign between the Court of Mecca and other Arab rulers.