Memo. for the Director of the Botanic Gardens.
The Chief Secretary's attention has been called to a letter in "The Argus" of yesterday's date signed W. Fergusson and written apparently from the Botanic Gardens.1 Sir Jas. McCulloch desires to know if Mr. Fergusson who holds the office of Inspector of State Forests &c is the author of the letter in question and if so what explanation he has to offer for this violation of the 21st Civil Service Regulation.2
W. H. Odgers
Chief Secretary's Office
21st May 1870.
'Destruction of trees in the Botanical Reserve', Argus, 20 May 1870, p. 5., signed 'William Ferguson' using the address 'Melbourne Botanic Gardens'.
M to J. McCulloch, 25 May 1870 is his reply to this memo.
M had sought permisson to respond to the Argus report in M to W. Odgers, 20 May 1870 (in this edition as 70-05-20c) but was refused (W. Odgers to M, 21 May 1870).
'21. Communications Not to be Made to the Public Press. — No officer shall make any communication, directly or indirectly, to the press upon any matter affecting the department in which he serves, or the business or the officers thereof, or relating to the public service, or his own official position or acts, or upon any political subject or question whatso ever, without the express permission or authority of the responsible Minister' (Victoria Government Gazette, 8 January 1867, p. 38).
Please cite as “FVM-70-05-21a,” 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