Melbourne, bot. Garden,
25/1/73.
Sir,
I have the honor to draw your attention to the fact, that this morning Gardeners Coller and Schneider received directly through the Post-Office written and official orders from the Secretary of Agriculture, to furnish lists of the plants under their care, a copy of one of these orders and the original of the other being herewith appended.2 These employees with a faithfulness, which reflects credit on them, at once communicated this fact to me; and here I would add, that orally the same demand was made to them by the Secretary of Agriculture some days ago, when likewise it was brought under my notice, and when I intimated to them, that such orders in regular course could only be carried out when coming from the Ministerial Chief to the responsible Director. I have received myself no communication whatever on this subject either directly or indirectly from any one but these Gardeners.
Now, Sir, I entertain such a high opinion of your sense of justice and of your desire to protect the dignity of the professional heads of Departments, that I do not for a moment imagine, that you have authorized these demands or have even any cognizance of them. In this opinion I am strengthened by the circumstance, that neither in the written nor in the oral application to the two Gardeners, the request is made in the Ministers name.
Should it however be your desire, that any such return be prepared, then I shall not fail to provide it as early as I can, on your intimation of your own wish to myself as the Director (and also to a very large measure the real founder) of the whole botanic establishment. Moreover such returns can only be made out properly under my own supervision, as they will embrace an exceedingly large number of plants from various parts of the globe, the majority of which were not even known here, until they were brought into this colony by my own exertions.
It further devolves on me, to bring respectfully under your notice, that I received from the Secretary of Agriculture myself a letter, dated 18. Jan., (copy hereto appended), in which — as far as I can see — that officer on his own accord, and not on behalf of the Minister, requests me "to take immediate steps, so as to control my monthly expenditure" for wages, seemingly with a view of bringing it to a reduced amount. This would appear to imply an order to the Director (unauthorized as it is) to effect at once further reductions in the number of the employees, whereas in the sixteen years of my responsible Directorship, it has been left always exclusively to my discretion as professional head of the Department (and so it is with all my Colleagues in the other colonies and abroad) to arrange for the particular employment of labor, according to the necessities of work arising at any time within the means available. In this instance it must be particularly apparent at the least reflection, that during the summer months with already largely reduced Departmental means and in the total absense of Yan Yean Water and with utterly inadequate supply of Engine Water, more garden-labor is needed to see the very many thousands of small and delicate plants safely through the season of heat, then would be needful during the cool months. It is furthermore perfectly understood, that I become personally liable for any sums overdrawn by myself or for any debt, if such were incurred.
The distinct wish, expressed in Parliament by many members, that my Directorship should not be impaired, induces me to hope, that such orders or directions as the honorable the Minister may deem necessary at any time will emanate always from the honorable Gentleman directly, so that in my instance an officer, who since fully twenty years has been in the first class of the Victorian service, may not become subjected to instructions from one of the second class, or may not see any further his Directorial authority completely ignored, contrary to all official usage.
I have the honor to be, Sir,
your obedient servant
Ferd. von Mueller,
Director botanic Garden.
A letter from Gardener Coller, adressed to yourself, is herewith also forwarded.3
F. v. M.
The honorable Duncan Gillies, M.L.A.,
Acting Minister of the Lands Department4
See also M to J. Casey, 6 February 1873.
The file also contains a copy of this letter in an unknown hand which, at this point, has an annotation by M: 'Sent with the original letter'.
On 24 January J. A. Levey wrote to both D. Coller and G. Schneider on behalf of the Secretary of Agriculture, A. Wallis: 'I have again to request that you will be good enough to furnish me with a list of plants under your care as early as possible.'
See footnotes to D. Coller to M, 25 January 1873 (in this edition as 73-01-25b).
Gillies forwarded M's letter to Wallis for report on 27 January, adding that M would be at the Lands Office at 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday 28 January to discuss the subject.
Wallis replied to Gillies:
I Have the honor, in compliance with instructions contained in minute of 27/1/73, to submit following report on Dr Mueller's letter of 25/1/73, appended.
1. With regard to the letters forwarded by my directive to gardeners Coller & Schneider, I have the honor to report that the Honble The Minister of Agriculture, previous to his departure for New Zealand, directed me "to report generally of present state of Botanical Garden, and to submit detailed suggestions for rendering them in future more subservient for the purpose of affording scientific and practical information for the instruction of those desirous of obtaining information upon plants useful to the country and novel industries," and to point out that I submitted for the Honble the Minister's approval (vide clause 7 of memo appended) [see below] the course which I proposed to adopt in order to acquire the information necessary to enable me to furnish required report, and obtained his sanction thereto. Accordingly, after having examined each of the employees as to the nature of his work, &c, I proceeded, accompanied by the men in charge, to inspect the various sections of the garden, and, during such inspection, I requested gardeners Coller and Schneider each to furnish me with a list to the plants contained in the houses and nurseries under his care, such list being necessary to enable me to draw up my report. However, up to the date of my departure on a tour of official inspection to the Goulburn Valley Agricl [Agricultural] district the above mentioned lists had not been furnished, whereupon I, in my capacity as permanent head of the Dept of Agriculture of which the Botanical Garden is a branch, requested Mr Levey, who acted on my behalf during my absence, to again request gardeners Coller and Schneider to furnish me with said lists; and since these are still unsupplied, I beg to remark that, to enable me to submit my report to the Minister on his return, it will be necessary for them to be forwarded to me without delay; and I beg also to observe that gardeners Coller and Schneider are themselves able to compile the required lists, and that Dr Mueller's intervention is in no way necessary.
2. With regard to the objection raised by the Director of the Botanical Garden to my letter, dated 18th Jany, I have the honor to report that the Honble The Minister of Agriculture has repeatedly intimated to me that I am wholy responsible to him for the proper working of the Dept of Agriculture and of its various branches, and that, by virtue of my position as the permanent head thereof, I must exercise my judgement in the general control of its respective branches, and in the expenditure of the votes for which I am responsible to him. Consequently, observing that the amount available for wages in the Botanical Garden for the remainder of the current financial year was only £507.12/9d, and that the amount paid away for wages during the month of Decr last was £104.9/—, I drew Dr Mueller's attention to the fact, and requested him so to control his monthly expenditure as to bring the total outlay for the above-mentioned period within the sum named.
3. With regard to Dr Muellers hope that he, an officer of the 1st class of the Civil Service, may not in future be subject to instructions from me, an officer of the 2nd class, I beg to observe that it is my misfortune to have been gazetted an officer of said class, but that notwithstanding, since I have been appointed and duly gazetted as the permanent head of the Dept of Agriculture, and that since the Botanical Garden is a branch of said Dept, I presume the Director, as long as circumstances remain as at present, will be subject to my instructions.'
In a memorandum to Casey of 31 December 1872 Wallis outlined the course he proposed to adopt in the absence of the minister and in clause 7 noted: 'With regard to the Botanical Gardens, I propose, to summon the employées one by one to give evidence as to the time he has been engaged in the Gardens, and as to the nature of his work during such period, in order to obtain the information necessary to enable me to report as to their present state and to make recommendations for their future management'. Casey sanctioned the majority of the actions that Wallis proposed, including those set out in clause 7.
On 2 February Gillies instructed: 'Inform Baron von Mueller that the instructions of which he appears to complain, were given with the view of carrying out the instructions of the Hon the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Casey). Such being the case it will be the duty of the persons so instructed to furnish the returns asked for'.
Please cite as “FVM-73-01-25a,” 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