Melbourne botanic Garden,
18/8/70
Sir
I have the honor to ask your instructions in reference to any further reductions, which you may deem proper in the personal of the botanic Garden. Under the present outlay, which barely provides for the most necessary work of the establishment, the vote for wages would be overdrawn to the extent of about £250.- .- by the end of the year, such a very large expenditure for wages having taken place from January til May already.1 I beg also regretfully to draw your favorable attention to the fact, that it was necessary to keep faith with the public institutions as regards the supply of plants this autumn, a service absorbing always a considerable amount of the wages fund. Furthermore this reason considerable extra efforts had to be made to provide both for the Sydney Exhibition and the industrial Museum a variety of articles, all involving some expense in labor and fund. Annexed to this letter is a list of the employees, which were retained after the reductions in May last, and to facilitate your instructions I have given the position assigned to each of the employees.
I have the honor to be,
Sir,
your obedient servant
Ferd. von Mueller
Direct. botan. Garden.
The honorable Sir Jam. McCulloch, Kn
Chief Secretary.2
Liabilities and Wages in the Botanic Garden from 1 September to 31 December 18703
| Name of Employe | Occupation | Length of Service | Rate of Wages pr diem | Amount of Wages for 4 months |
||
| C. Hoffmann | Operator in the Laboratory | 11/ |
57 |
15 | ||
| J. Dallachy | Botanical traveller | 10/ |
52 |
10 | ||
| G. Luehmann | Clerk, Accountant & Custodian of Museum | —professional4 | 9/ |
47 |
5 | |
| C. Schlipalius | In charge of seed department and experimental ground | 8/ |
42 |
- | ||
| J. Watters | For class ground and small conservatory | 17 years | 8/ |
42 |
- | |
| Th. Morrison | For middle ground | 14 " | " |
42 |
- | |
| H. Hendrick | For western ground | 13 " | " |
42 |
- | |
| E. Soues | For roads, waterworks and drains | 13 " | " |
42 |
- | |
| D. Coller | For central nursery | 13 " | " |
42 |
- | |
| J. Sullivan | Carter | 13 " | " |
42 |
- | |
| R. Morrison | For eastern ground | 12 " | " |
42 |
- | |
| A. Neate | Town agent and junior for clerical work | 12 " | 7/ |
36 |
15 | |
| W. Lumsden | For large conservatory and adjoining ground | 12 " | 8/ |
42 |
- | |
| Thos. Bourke | For southern ground | 12 " | " | 42 | - | |
| G. Schneider | For Victoria house, cinchonas & industr. nursery | 10 " | " | 42 | - | |
| Thos. Gulliver | For Government House Reserve | 10 " | 7/ | 36 | 15 | |
| H. Moran | For select pine nursery, vines & select trees | 6 " | 5/ | 26 | 5 | |
| C. Richards | Junior in the Museum | 3 " | 3/6 | 18 | 7 /6 | |
| J. Pitcher | Office boy & for garden work | ½ " | 2/6 | 13 | 2 /6 | |
| W. Smith | For miscellaneous park work | 13 " (with an intermission) | 8/ | 42 | - | |
| For Sunday watchman, aviary attendance, feeding swans, emus, monkeys, glazing, painting, small repairs, manure storage &c.5 | 16 | 9 | ||||
To Vote for Wages £ 2691. - .-
Expended and liabilities
| Wages, January to July |
£ |
1932. |
19 |
/6 |
| August |
202. |
- |
.- |
|
| September to December without reductions |
809. |
4 |
.- |
|
|
£ |
2944. |
3 |
/6 |
|
| Available |
2691. |
- |
.- |
|
| Deficit |
£ |
253. |
3 |
/6 |
M had been operating on the 1970 Estimates established by the Macpherson government, not the new Vote under the McCulloch administration that had not been approved until 31 May; see notes to M to J. McCulloch, 3 May 1870, for details.
See also M to W. Odgers, 26 August 1870.
This annexed document is in Georg Luehmann's handwriting.
There is a bracket linked to 'professional' embracing the first three names on the list, together with the first of the two lines describing Schlipalius's position. Schlipalius was not, however, regarded as a member of the professional staff; cf. M to J. McCulloch, 12 October 1870.
M apparently habitually used part of the wages vote for Sunday watchmen and the other purposes listed here, described as a 'gratuity' in M to W. Haines, 15 February 1858, and as 'overtime' in M to J. Casey, 16 September 1872.
Please cite as “FVM-70-08-18,” 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