Melbourne, 2 July 1878.
The honorable Grah. Berry, M.L.A.,
Chief Secretary.
Sir,
I have the honor in accordance with your instructions to submit herewith the estimates of the Gov. Botanist's Department for the new finance-year. These estimates have been prepared on an understanding, that the headquarter of my Department will be in future at Albert Park, altho' I beg again to bring under your favorable consideration the advisability to render the botanic Garden again the place of my Departmental work; by which means a large saving could be effected, in as much as I would undertake to administrate the bot. Garden at half of its present cost, while the Curator might be entrusted with the supervision of the other metropolitan Gardens and Parks, and with the disbursement of the large votes, set apart for them specially.1
I have the honor to be, Sir,
your obedient servant
Ferd. von Mueller,
Gov. Botanist.
| Gov. Botanist (without quarter |
£ |
800 |
|||
| Museum Assistant & Clerk (Last year £150) |
£ |
200 |
|||
| Assistant for outdoor office work (last year £130) |
£ |
175 |
|||
| Assistant for collecting & field work, laboratory work and other operations (a new item) |
£ |
150 |
|||
| Museum Materials and plants |
£ |
130 |
|||
| Books, instruments, stationery, stores, tools, seeds, travelling and incidental expenses |
£ |
300 |
|||
| Publications of work on Australian plants (including the Eucalyptus Atlas2) |
£ |
200 |
|||
|
£ |
1955 |
||||
| (Against £1785 of the previous year) | |||||
| One gardener at 8/ per day |
£ |
124 |
16 |
||
| two labourers at 7/ — |
£ |
218 |
8 |
||
| one carter at 7/ |
£ |
109 |
4 |
||
| two Gardenboys at 3/6 |
£ |
109 |
4 |
||
| Horse, cart & harness |
£ |
45 |
|||
| Forage |
£ |
40 |
|||
|
£ |
646 |
12 |
|||
| (At this rate I can maintain ornamental and scientific cultures in future at Albert-Park | |||||
|
Total |
£ |
2601 |
12 |
/- | |
| An estimate for office Buildings, fences &c has been forwarded to the honorable the Minister of public works |
£ |
1800 |
|||
(A sum of £900 on a former estimate has lapsed, pending final arrangements for choosing the future head Quarter of the Gov. Botanist so that the £1800 represent the votes of two years.)3
On 6 August 1878 W. Odgers, Under Secretary, minuted: 'To be kept until Estimates are being discussed in the L[egislative] Assembly'.
B79.13.11 etc.
In the Estimates that were adopted, the amount allowed for the Outdoor Assistant was reduced to £150, and no funding was provided for either the extra assistant whom M had requested, or the buildings and operating expenses of M’s proposed new headquarters at Albert Park (Victoria, Parliamentary papers, 1878, vol. 1, B1).
MS written by Georg Luehmann and signed by M.
Please cite as “FVM-78-07-02,” 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