Melbourne bot. Garden,
3/6/69
Sir
It having been finally decided by yourself, that the northern ground of the botanic Garden should be alienated from this establishment and be transferred to the trust and expenditure of charitable Societies, I have the honor now to draw your attention to the circumstance, that no longer any necessity exists of maintaining Ranger Smith there on wages paid by this department.1
May I therefore request your favorable consideration to the proposition, that his appointment in connection with the botanic Garden be cancelled, more especially as I am anxious to avail myself of the wages thus to be saved for obtaining other labor for this garden, where indeed the means at my command are utterly inadequate for the requirements and work of the season.2
I have the honor to be,
Sir, your very obedient
Ferd. von Mueller
The honorable the President of the Board of Land & Works
The request to remove Smith from the Botanic Garden was previously made in M to J. Grant, 12 February 1869.
M's request was not acceded to. M described Smith as 'the man I can best of all dispense with' in M to J. McCulloch, 23 April 1870 (in this edition as 70-04-23c) and included him as discharged in the list of employees (M. to J. McCulloch, 7 May 1870 (in this edition as 70-05-07b)). Smith appealed (W. Smith to J. McCulloch, 9 May 1870 (in this edition as M70-05-09)) and was reinstated (W. Odgers to M, 26 May 1870 (in this edition as 70-05-26a)).
Please cite as “FVM-69-06-03,” 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