Melbourne Botan. Garden
14/1/71
Sir,
At a meeting of the Trustees of the Royal Park, held yesterday, it was brought under the notice of my colleagues that on the occasion of the ignition of the grass in the Park on the 11th inst., the police stationed there or in the vicinity displayed great zeal and attended most promptly to suppress the flames, and that thus the Park was saved from a general conflagration.1 I have now the pleasing duty to perform to convey a resolution of the Trustees that their best thanks should be given to the police who came so promptly and zealously forward on that occasion and I now beg of you to be so kind to convey to the men of your force this expression of appreciation of their help rendered on the occasion referred to.
I have the honor to be Sir
Your obedt servant
F. von Mueller, Hon Sec.
Capt Standish
Chief Commissioner of Police
The fire was blamed on children playing with matches (Argus, 12 January 1871, p. 4).
Please cite as “FVM-71-01-14,” 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