Ext 6765/46 'Requests by Political Resident Persian Gulf for copies of General Instructions, Regulations (Orders in Council) etc for the Residency' [‎10r] (19/158)

the transmission of official communications. As suggested in para
graph 12 of the report, however, it is likely, I think, that only advantage
will result from this.
Action on the Report
9. I have therefore authorised Brigadier Gambier-Parry to intro
duce the various measures recommended in the report and have told him
tc \rry on. This must necessarily be a gradual process. Some of the
proposals, however, can be put into force at once and others without
much delay.
Telegrams
10 . In regard to telegrams, we intend shortly to let you have a
new booklet of instructions (including revised bag rules also) with time
tables attached (see paragraphs 19 and 20 of the report). Until this is
available, the recommendations in the report cannot be fully applied.
I hope, however, that you will make sure that your staff adhere to existing
instructions on this subject and that they will be guided by para
graphs 11-13, 16, 18, 22-24, 34 (last two sentences) and 42 of the report.
The purport of these paragraphs may be briefly summarised as
follows'
(i) cut down the number and length of telegrams to the bone;
(ii) be sparing in the use of priority markings;
(iii) do not confuse importance with urgency : the important is
usually less urgent than the ephemeral;
(iv) do not send an entire message by telegraph (and least of all
by priority telegram) or in cypher, if only a part of it is
urgent or secret as the case may be : in such cases two separate
communications should be sent and one of them, if possible,
by despatch or savingram;
(v) with effect from 1 st January, 1948, introduce the Ci lettergram ”
(to be so marked) as a deferred telegram (cf. the obsolete
“ Dally ”) which would be numbered in the ordinary tele
graphic series but would rank after the ordinary telegram
in priority and might take up to three days to arrive;
(vi) give a further trial to the system of using the prefix <c Light ”
on communications that, 'in your opinion, should be seen by
the Secretary of State or an under-secretary (see my circular
letter to Heads of Missions, No. 0103 of 1 st August, 1946);
34411—42 p 9