Chief Secretary's Office
Melbourne 12th February 1874
Sir,
In reply to your letter of the 5th instant1 I am directed by the Chief Secretary to inform you that your visits to various parts of the Colony are to be made in your own discretion, but that all expenditure in connection with them must be kept strictly within the sum on the Estimates for 1873-4, and so regulated as to make the said sum sufficient for the year, without any supplementary claims being preferred.
The Chief Secretary cannot accede to your application for a Free Pass on the Victorian Railways to Ballarat, similar requests on behalf of officers on duty from this and other Departments having been previously declined by the Railway Department.
I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
W. H. Odgers
The Government Botanist
&c &c &c
M to J. Francis, 5 February 1874 (in this edition as 74-02-05a).
Please cite as “FVM-74-02-12b,” 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