Melbourne botan Garden
23/4/70
Sir
I have the honor to point out, that the reductions, proposed to be made in the wages fund of the botanic Garden during 1870, necessitate the discontuance of the services of several employees. I have now therefore thought it necessary to suggest the discharge of the following men (on a weeks notice as agreed on.)1
1. G. Robertson, Engine Driver. Engaged only end of 1868. The wet and cool season having set in and moreover the Yan Yean Water having been got again, I certainly need no Engine Driver til November.
2. William Smith, the services of this man I can best of all dispense with and are of the least importance to the botanic Garden.2 But as he has been employed at the botanic Garden and Royal Park for a series of years (13 months at the Royal Park) I beg leave to recommend his services in some other Department. Perhaps the hon. the Chief Secretary would allow recompensation to this man under the Civil Service regulations, as suggested once by the hon. J M Grant, because W. Smith was gazetted temporary Crownland Ranger for the ground, ceded subsequently to the Friendly Societies.3 To render the discharge of W. Smith not a hardship, I suggest his remaining until he might get employment elsewhere.
3. Thos. Smith, this is a supernumerary, who was temporarily engaged on special wish of the honorable James McKean, then Minister of the establishment.
I have the honor to be,
Sir,
your very obedient servant
Ferd. von Mueller
Director of the botanic Garden.
The honorable Sir Jam. McCulloch, M.P.
Chief Secretary
M's request may have been the stimulus for William Odgers to seek information about the costs of administering the Botanic Gardens:
'It is understood that Mr Fergusson the Inspector of State Forests submitted to the late Government an Estimate of the cost of properly administering the department of the Botanic Gardens — The Chief Secretary [James McCulloch] desires me to say he would be obliged to the Hon. the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey [John MacPherson] will send it to him for perusal tomorrow morning' (W. Odgers to J. MacPherson, 27 April 1870, V70/8814, unit 468, VPRS 3991 inward registered correspondence, VA 475 Chief Secretary's Department, Public Record Office, Victoria.)
The Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey, C. Hodgkinson, replied on 28 April: 'The Estimate alluded to was not received in the Lands Office Registry, and was consequently not recorded. It was probably retained by the Honble J. M'Kean as a document unconnected with the ordinary business of the Lands Dept'.
M had tried to remove Smith from the staff after another gardener had complained to M that Smith was found fornicating in the garden (D. Coller to M, 10 March 1866) but the responsible ministers retained him, and he was transferred to the site north of the river used to house the zoo. M was also unsuccessful when he tried again to have Smith removed when the North Ground was resumed for a Friendly Society reserve (M to J. Grant, 12 February 1869; M to J. Grant, 3 June 1869) and again when he was required to reduce staff in 1869 (M to J. McKean, 19 October 1869). Coller protested against Smith's return to the Gardens (D. Coller to M, 11 May 1870).
A specific suggestion by Grant to this effect has not been found.
Please cite as “FVM-70-04-23c,” 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