Ext 6765/46 'Requests by Political Resident Persian Gulf for copies of General Instructions, Regulations (Orders in Council) etc for the Residency' [‎20v] (40/158)

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recommend that this should be reduced pari passu with the circulation of Foreign
Office telegrams (see paragraph 34), due account being taken of the special needs
of the Commonwealth High Commissioners.
Intels."
64. We also recommend that, in order to keep the Foreign Service abreast
of world developments, in so far as they are not adequately reported in the preS 1 ,
an expanded form of intelligence telegram should be sent out weekly or as occasion
required. These telegrams could, we think, normally go by bag.' Even so, they
would arrive long before the print, besides being cheaper to produce and carry
and easier to read. The Foreign Office Weekly Political Intelligence Summary,
on the other hand, could, we think, be abolished, since an enquiry made of a cross
section of the present recipients in London shows that it is rarely, if ever, read
by them. We dare say that the position is much the same abroad.
Savings
65. Savings to be effected on print will depend almost entirely upon the
reduced freight loan. The annual overall cost at present freight rates is estimated
to be £35,000. Our proposal should reduce this figure by at least 50 per cent.
There will be a proportionate reduction in the cost of paper.
Print for consuls
66 . As to the circulation of print to consuls, for the security reasons
mentioned in the next paragraph this must virtually cease altogether. In any
case, we recommend that the distribution should be stopped. We are informed
that not infrequently confidential consular bags accompanied by King’s
Messengers contain nothing but print. We clearly cannot afford this luxury.
Security
67. Consular reports. —We understand that, owing to the high cost of
providing reliable British guards from this country, it is proposed that, whereas
nearly all diplomatic missions shall continue to be strongholds of security, only
the minimum amount of security shall be maintained at consulates save in excep
tional circumstances. Thus, most consulates will not be able to hold either print
or other secret papers. In order, however, that consuls should not be prevented
from furnishing secret reports in cypher, posts from which such reports might
be regarded as essential could be provided with one-time pads enabling them
to communicate with their mission and the Foreign Office. The loss of'one of
these pads would not compromise the communications of other posts. A reserve
of such pads could also be held at missions for despatch to consulates in emergency.
68 . King’s Messengers’ destinations. —If no consulates except a few in the
security grades are equipped to hold secret paper, they will, of course, no longer
receive crossed bags. This will enable us to curtail the "runs of King’s Messengers
to consulates in the United States and elsewhere and to effect some reduction in
their numbers and travelling costs.
69. Safe hand, sea hags and cost. —We think, too, that every opportunity
should be taken to reduce the numbers of King’s Messengers in other ways and,
where complete security can be assured, to extend the practice of entrusting
crossed bags to captains of British vessels or aircraft or to other safe hand when
conditions permit. At the moment, captains of aircraft do not always offer
satisfactory security service. We think that this point should be pursued and
that an attempt should at the same time be made to secure a reduction in what
we regard as the unwarrantably high cost of sending bags by this method. As
to the carriage of bags by masters of ships, we think that much greater use should
be made of this method, the cost of which is negligible, and that we should revert
as far as may be practicable to the pre-war practice of sending bags by sea.
We recommend that air bags should in future be used only for material that is
too urgent to be sent by the surface route and could not be handled by telegraph
or, if it could, would cost more than if sent by air. We appreciate that the
resumption of the use of surface bags on an extended scale would call for enquiry
into shipping facilities, which are not what they were before the war, and into
arrangements for the reception of bags at ports of destination and, if necessary,
for their onward transmission. The selection of the telegraph or air bag for the
transmission of urgent communications (not of such priority as to make the use
of the telegraph essential) would have to be based on careful costing. Among