October 26th [186]41
Sir
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the rules adopted by the Trustees for the management of the Royal Park.2 These have been laid before the Council who have directed me to request your attention to one or two of the provisions therein contained. In the third rule it is stated that the maintenance of the Perimeters will be thrown upon the Society and is to be done at the expense of the Society funds. [This] the Council [imagine] to be an […] as from the condition of the fence a big expenditure will soon be necessary and therefore the Council is not in a position to oblige. Hitherto all repairs to the fences have been defrayed out of the grazing fees as directed by the Trustees.3
I would also call your attention to the fifth rule which states that no persons can enter the Park […] if accompanied by dogs and further that persons on horseback will not be permitted to canter on the grass.4 Both of these rules will I fear be found powerless. I would further suggest the addition of a rule prohibiting the kindling of any fire in the Park & the discharging of any fireworks5
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your most Obedt Servant
Geo Sprigg
Secy
To Dr Mueller F.R.S.
Hony Secretary Trustees of Royal Park
P.S. As soon as the rules are formally proposed I [presume] it will be desirable that they should be printed in […]6 and exhibited at the Park gates.
editorial addition.
See M to G. Sprigg, 21 October 1864 (in this edition as 64-10-21b). 'Regulations for the management of the Zoological Reserve, Royal Park' were published in Victoria Government Gazette, no. 111, 28 October1864, p. 2408.
Clause 3 of the Regulations stated: 'The Council of the Acclimatization Society will be required to maintain in good repair the boundary fence of the Zoological Reserve, and to defray the cost of repairs and renewals of that fence out of the funds placed at their disposal'.
Clause 5 of the regulations stated: 'The portion of the Zoological Reserve not especially enclosed by the Council of the Acclimatization Society, and used for the depasturing of imported animals and their progeny, shall be open to the public from sunrise to sunset, subject to the condition that the persons admitted to the reserve shall be unaccompanied by dogs, and that if in vehicles or on horseback the roadways not be departed from'.
See also G. Sprigg to M, 2 November 1864 (in this edition as 64-11-02a).
illegible — MS water-damaged.
Please cite as “FVM-64-10-26c,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on