7 MARCH 1947, Page 5

Saudi Arabia is one of the regions of the earth

where the ancient and modern jostle one another strangely. Meeting the Emir Saud (the eldest of His Majesty's 32 sons) and his retinue a few days ago, I was surprised to find how completely addicted they were to air-travel. With their brown robes and gold-circleted head-dress they seem a survival from a stately past ; but they had flown the Atlantic from the United States, and they have since flown on home by way of Cairo. Saudi Arabia, I find, has its own internal air- lines, the machines being flown by American pilots with Arab co- pilots. In time, I imagine, they will be all-Arabian. Contact between Saudi Arabia and America is close, and will no doubt become closer,