خارجي ٤٦/٦٧٦٥ "طلبات من المقيم السياسي في الخليج الفارسي للحصول على نسخ من التعليمات العامة واللوائح (المراسيم الملكية) وغيرها للمقيمية" [ظ‎‎٩] (١٥٨/١٨)

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5. In regard to bags, the proposals for economy rest mainly on a ^ f
reduction of load. In the first place we can curtail the private privilege
mail. Subject to special arrangements for certain countries such as those
in the Soviet orbit, the report recommends that we should confine the
privilege to the staffs of Foreign Service posts and permanent delegations*
abroad, that privileged mail should travel only by the cheapest (slowest)
means, and that the carriage by bag of tobacco, which at present consti
tutes a very heavy burden, should cease altogether. We also prop^*
to reduce the quantity of print and to make a drastic cut in the distribu-
of print volumes to posts abroad.
6 . A further proposal is that all Government Departments should
make their own arrangements for the despatch of non-confidential
material to our posts. This might perhaps go by the Urgent Government
Mail Service. If, as we hope, the service is developed under expert Post
Office administration, actual economy should result, quite apart from the
saving on our vote.
7. Further economies on the bag service can be effected by curtail
ing the runs of King’s Messengers to consulates, with consequent reduc
tion in the number of King’s Messengers, and perhaps also by negotiating
cheaper rates for the carriage of bags by captains of aircraft. This last
point, however, is bound up with the question of security and we are not
sure that it will be possible to make anything of it. We'intend, however,
to make savings by reverting as far as may be practicable to the pre-war
system of sending bags by sea, the cost of which is negligible, rather
than by air and of using'air bags only for urgent material that could
not be handled by telegraph or, if it could, would cost more by this
means.
General Effect of Recommendations
8 . In submitting the report to me, Brigadier Gambier-Parry
pointed out that, for lack of statistics and for other reasons, he could not
set figures, except here and there, against the proposed measures of
economy. I agree with him, however, that considerable saving should
result from them, both in man-power and in money. I also agree that
the measures that he recommends will not impair the efficiency of our
communications so far as official material is concerned and that in some
respects they should enhance it. They will unfortunately involve some
curtailment of the privileged use of the bag for private purposes, but I
do not think that in present circumstances we can object to this. If
properly applied they will also lead to a general reduction of tempo in