Chief Secretarys Office
Melbourne 23rd December 1870
Sir
I have the honor to inform you that your letter of the 22nd inst remonstrating against the appointment of the Board referred to in my letter of the previous day1 and more especially against the appointment of Mr Josiah Mitchell on the ground of his having already exhibited a feeling of hostility to yourself has been laid before the Chief Secretary
Sir James McCulloch directs me to say that he does not understand how you could suppose that any humiliation is intended to yourself in the appointment of a Board to inquire into the best means of re-organizing a Department that belongs to the State.
I am to point out that if your time and the scientific knowledge you possess have been devoted to the administration of the Botanic Gardens you have also received a liberal remuneration from the country for your services.
The Chief Secretary is at a loss to know what you intend to convey by stating that you have sacrificed your private property in the interest of the State.
With respect to Mr Mitchell Sir James McCulloch recommended that he should be nominated as one of the members of the Board in consequence of the high personal character he has received of that gentleman coupled with his ability to bring practical experience to bear on the questions proposed to be submitted for the consideration of the Board2
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your most obedient servant
W. H. Odgers
The Director
Botanic Gardens
W. Odgers to M, 21 December 1870 (in this edition as 70-12-21a).
In their letters accepting appointment as members of the Board of Inquiry, dated respectively 26 and 28 November, Hammill and Greig simply indicated their willingness to serve. Mitchell, however, in his letter, also dated 28 November, clearly indicated his already set opinion: 'I may add that I the more readily agree at this busy season of the year — hay harvest — to aid in the proposed inquiry from a strong conviction as to the urgent necessity existing for some improvement in the organization & management of the department of the Botanic Gardens'. By contrast, John Carson, who had also been approached, declined because of conflicts of interest:
I beg to state that I have long been intimate with Dr Von Mueller (who has often talked to me of his position in the Gardens) as also with Mr Ferguson who's eldest Daughter has for a considerable time been one of my Shop Assistants.
These circumstances I am of opinion should exclude me from this Board. Otherwise I should have had great pleasure in doing what I must now most respectfully decline.
William Ferguson had been appointed as curator in November 1869, but he and M remained at loggerheads.
(All letters at unit 473, VPRS 3991 inward registered correspondence, VA 475 Chief Secretary's Department, Public Record Office, Victoria.)
Please cite as “FVM-70-12-23,” 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