With reference to your letter A.20 of the 26th October¹ concerning the F. Ryan file, I am sure you already know that in June 1940 a great number of papers were destroyed on the instructions of the Government. This certainly entailed the destruction of certain letters, etc. on that particular file. The instruction applied not only to the PSS files but also to a number of Registry files.²

If there are papers missing since June, 1940, I am afraid I cannot explain it unless, possibly, G2 retained some. Such letters were, of course, always taken by G2 for examination. The Registry records should show, by reference to the numbers, whether any Madrid ‘bags’ or telegrams failed to reach us during that period. G2 might also be able to help on this point as they would probably have heard later if any of the reports were intercepted en route. The only other line of inquiry I can suggest is the Ambassador in London.