Melbourne, 28th January 1895
I have the honor to inform you that I received this morning a communication from the Public Service Board,1 desiring the attendance of two Officers of my Branch, Messrs. J. Minchin and C. French jr.,2 Herbarium Assistants, with a view of transferring them temporarily to the Department of Agriculture.3 The two Officers in question will accordingly enter upon their new duties on Wednesday the 30th inst.4
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your obedient servant
Ferd. von Mueller,
Govt. Botanist
The Under Secretary
The communication was by telephone; see M to C. Topp, 8 March 1895 (in this edition as 95-03-08a).
Charles H. French.
The question of whose authority it was to transfer Minchin and French concerned Topp. On 21 January he had minuted: 'Should not the Board have asked me to make the transfer?' A minute of 25 January, in a different hand, added: 'The communication should have gone through this Office. It is to be borne in mind that the men transferred are excess officers.' See also C. Topp to M, 7 March 1895 (in this edition as 95-03-07a), and M to C. Topp, 8 March 1895 (in this edition as 95-03-08a).
Topp minuted: 'Inform the P. S. Board of the Govt Botanist's statement; say I presume that it was through an inadvertence that the Board did not inform me of the proposed transfer; though officers may have been reported as in excess in a particular branch it is quite possible that owing to a temporary pressure of work in that or some other branch they may not be available for transfer to another Department at some particular time. Say I shall be glad to know for what time these officers were asked by the Department of Agriculture; as the Board is aware temporary assistance is now urgently required in this Department in connexion with Agricultural statistics and possibly one or both of these officers might be suitable.' See also notes with M to C. Topp, 8 March 1895 (in this edition as 95-03-08a). Topp continued to have concerns about the way that informal arrangements were being made for transfers between Departments without going through his office; see his circular letter, C. Topp to M, 6 August 1895.
MS written by G. Luehmann and signed by M.
Please cite as “FVM-95-01-28a,” 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