P.S. I have just remembered I have said nothing about the London area that should be included—Shoghi Effendi thinks it would save trouble if you drew your circle widely enough to include Mrs. Slade and her daughter! At first he inclined to agree with you that it would be best to take the middle one—the Postal Area—and make exceptions in favour of Mrs. Haybittel and her daughter. (Mrs. Ginman I hear from my brother has moved into town now) but it seemed to him that you might possibly have other friends residing or moving out to Surbiton etc., so that it might save you trouble in the future if you selected the widest area? This is merely a suggestion on his part—as it will no doubt be decided at the meeting of the London Assembly. But with regard to the choosing by the 19 delegates of the nine members of the National Assembly, his instructions are quite definite and must not be departed from—as these instructions are as laid down by the Master in the Testament and other Tablets. Shoghi Effendi says you can even now soon select the day for the 19 delegates to come to London during Ridván. By the way Ridván begins exactly 31 days after the New Year so it starts almost always on April 21st and lasts for 12 days. I have recorded my notes on list enclosed. Yours ever, E. Rosenberg Shoghi(15) Effendi emphatically urges that the 19 friends elected as delegates should meet together during Ridván—Shoghi Effendi has sent you three copies of the Bahá’í Year Book, one for London, one for Manchester and one for Bournemouth. Read and approved. Shoghi Editor’s Note: From December 1926 to April 1927, while the secretary who was then helping with the English correspondence was away from Haifa, Miss Ethel J. Rosenberg (addressed in letters by the Guardian as “My dear Rosa”), was on pilgrimage and kept up a lengthy and repetitive correspondence with George P. Simpson. In these letters from Miss Rosenberg are many instructions from the Guardian to the British National Assembly. The letter reproduced in this compilation, dated January 29th, 1927 is important for many reasons: 1. It is the only one from Miss Rosenberg which carried the handwriting of Shoghi Effendi where he “Approved” what had been written. 2. It outlined the principle for the election of the National Spiritual Assembly by delegates which the British N.S.A. had not then appreciated from the earlier letters of the Guardian (of 1923, 1294, 1925, later published in “Bahá’í Administration”). 3. It insisted upon Convention being held in London during Ridván. 4. It clarified the need to have a recognised voting area for London but left the final decision to the local Spiritual Assembly of London. As a result of this letter 13 delegates attended Convention and 4 voted by post; ten members were elected to the National Assembly (Guardian’s letter of May, 13th, 1927 refers), and the London area was defined as having a radius of 36 miles. Letter of 12 February 1927 12 February 1927(16)