To James Hector   10 August 1874

Melbourne

10/8/74

 

To day, dear Dr Hector, a friend in the Otago province sent me a print of an able speech of your premier minister on the forest question.1 The whole evinces much true statesmanship and wise foresight; and which I have preached here for years to deaf ears your colony has made the first real step to the State administration of the forests and also South Australia, where the Honor. Fred. Krichauff, my University friend, who followed me to Australia in 1848, brought in on my request a forest bill this session of their Parliament.2 I would suggest to you, that a new edition of my "forest trees and industrial plants"3 should be brought out in New Zealand. I gladly give the gratuitous consent to it; the 3 portions could be alphabetically rearranged and a new grouping be made as a key to the whole. I could give some additional (as yet unpublished) notes together with a geographic index, which is ready. As the clime of Victoria is so nearly alike to that of N.Z., these lists of plants, republished in N. America and New South Wales also already, of popular construction, would serve also your community. I was under the impression, that I had given the hon. Jul Vogel a copy of my lecture on "forest culture",4 but from his speech it seems not so. The hon. Gentleman would likely be interested in some passages of it, particularly those referring to Eucalypts and their industrial products. Just the gold medal is sent me for my new tar oils &c &c of Eucalypts, sent to the London Exhibition — You, of course, have a copy of the forest lecture. I have none left to send to Mr Vogel

Regardfully &c

Ferd von Mueller5

Eucalyptus

 
1
Offprint not found. Julius Vogel introduced a landmark forest conservation bill into the NZ Parliament in July 1874 (NZ parliamentary debates, 14 July 1874).
2
Krichauff was the instigator of SA’s Forest Trees Planting Encouragement Act to encourage the planting of trees by private persons, the final parliamentary stages being completed on 17 December 1873. However, no regulations were framed nor were districts in which it would operate gazetted. Krichauff introduced a second Bill, to establish a Forest Board 'to give effect to' the earlier Act, with other wider powers. Krichauff quoted from Vogel's speech when moving the second reading of the new Bill on 26 August 1874 (South Australian register, 27 August 1864, p. 6). The Bill had not completed its Parliamentary passage by the end of the session, and therefore lapsed. A similar Bill was introduced in the next session and passed, with the first Board being appointed in November (South Australian register, 13 November 1875, p. 7, reprinting the notice from the SA Government gazette,11 November 1875).
3
B71.13.09.
4
B71.13.11.
5

Hector sent M's letter to the Under Secretary at Wellington, G. Cooper, on 16 September noting: 'I think a reprint of Baron Von Muellers paper would be very useful in this Colony — […] is much asked for & I have lost the […] of my copy.' On 29 September the Colonial Secretary, D. Pollen, asked Cooper: 'Is there a copy in the library or can one be obtained here — if not the Professor might be asked to be good enough to send one'. Cooper replied on 6 October: 'The learned professor's work is not in the [...] library, nor is it likely that a copy of it can be procured here. As he offers to rearrange the work & give some additional, yet unpublished, notes, I think he sh[ould]d be asked to send over the copy for a new edition, wh[ich] could be brought out at our Printing Office.' Pollen approved this suggestion.

See also G. Cooper to M, 6 October 1874 (in this edition as 74-10-06b). M's papers were not republished in New Zealand.

Please cite as “FVM-74-08-10,” 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 24 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/74-08-10