MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



75 



possible, be conducted on uniform principles, I hare to 

 request that, so far as local circumstances permit, vou 

 •wiU take the necessary steps for giving effect to these 

 suggestions in the Colony under your Government. 



I have tlie honour to be, 

 Sir, 

 Tgur most obedient, humble servant, 



EXPON. 



The Officer Administering the Government oi 



The Secretary of State having from time to time re- 

 .quested the assistance of the Director of the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, in indicating the lines on which the 

 Botanical Establishments of the several Colonies might 

 be most advantageously conducted, so as to be of per- 

 manent assistance to the communities in which they are 

 placed, the following suggestions have been drawn up. 



Subject to such variations as the local necessities of 

 various Colonies might seem to render desirable, the 

 Secretary of State regards these suggestions as affording 

 a well considered basis, which experience has shown to be 

 practicable, for the administration of a well-equipped 

 Botanical Establishment in a Colony. 



Colonial Office, July, 1893. 



.StJGGESTioxs for the information of Coionial Governments 

 about to appoint Superintendents of Botanic Gardens, 

 and for the guidance of the Superintendents them- 

 selves. 

 I. The Superintendents' time should be occupied by 

 the duties of the gardens in the interests of the Colony 

 -^nd mother country. 



Thase duties include not merely the keep and cultiva- 

 tion of the plants, but correspondence with other gardens 

 in the Colony and elsewhere, and activity in procuring 

 Idj means of travellers, visitors, ships' officers, etc., all 

 plants that it may be desirable to introduce, whether for 

 use or ornament, and botanical information generally. 



n. The gardens should be both useful and attractive 

 to the general public, and should contain : — 



a. A plainly ticketed collection of the plants, shrubs, 



and trees of the Colony. 



b. A collection, also well ticketed, of all such useful 



plants as can be cultivated in the Colony. 



£. A collection of useful and ornamental plants for dis- 

 tribution, exchange, etc. 



m. The Superintendent should keep a catalogue of all 

 the plants cultivated and that have been cultivated in the 

 garden ; a monthly journal of operations, which may be 

 •consulted by persons desirous of forming gardens, and a 

 brief meteorological abstract of the mean maximum and 

 mean minimum temperature of the month, with its 

 bumidity, clearness, or cloudiness, amount of rain, etc. 

 SLe should annually prepare a report on the progress and 

 condition of tlie garden, of its receipts and expenditure, 

 donations, donors' names, and those of the more im- 

 portant plants distributed from it ; this report should be 

 printed by the Government. 



The Superintendent should regularly devote a certain 

 portion of his time to the collection of the indigenous 

 plants of the Colony to be established in the Botanical 

 Gardens, or for purposes of exchange. He should also 

 collect, dry, and arrange a complete set of indigenous 

 plants for the purpose of forming a named Serbarium of 

 the flowering plants and ferns of the Colony. All plants 

 collected by the Superintendent while occupying an 

 official position in connection with the Gardens, whether 

 in a growing or dried state, should be considered the pro- 

 perty of the Colony, and should not be removed by him, 

 or converted bo his own use, without the written authority 

 of the Government. 



Wherever practicable a public Museum, containing 

 named specimens of Colonial woods, of vegetable pro- 

 ducts useful in medicines, as foodstuffs, or capable of 

 being utilised in trade or for commercial purposes, should 

 be attached to every Colonial Botanic Garden. 



rV. A Library of botanical books of reference should be 

 attached to the garden and catalogued in duplicate, and 

 no book should be lent out of the library on any pretext 

 whatever. Of this catalogue one copy sliould be kept in 

 the library, and the other should be deposited in some 

 Government Office, and these should be annually com- 

 pared. The fact and date of comparison should be stated 



3499. 



in the Annual Report, 

 recorded. 



and all losses and additiona 



Sir W. T. 

 Thiselton- 

 Dyer, 



K.C.M.a., 

 F.B.S. 



V. No Superintendent or other officer of the garden 

 should be permitted to sell any plants or garden produce 



without the written orders of the Govemnient, nor should 



they be jjermitted for their own personal emolument to 29 Nov. 1900. 



sell or trade in plants of any kind, indigenous or culti- 



vated, nor to take apprentice or other fees. 



TI. The Superilnitendeufc should not Be permibted to 

 cultivate vegetables fur the table of any public officer or 

 private individual but his own, or that of other persona 

 employed in the garden ; and in all such cases Uie value of 

 this perquisite should be calculated as part ai the salary 

 or wages of the individual who enjoys it. He should not 

 cultivate for his own table rare or expensive fruits, sujh 

 as take care or time, or offer temptation for pilferiiag. 



With regard to supplying occasionally or periodically 

 the table of the Governor with vegetables, fruit, flowers, 

 etc., this as a duty imposed on the Superintendent is in 

 every respect objectionable; but, on the other band, a 

 Superintendent must be ineligible or inefficient who has 

 not a sufficient supply of flowers to send frequently to the 

 Governor's house, if not far distant, or who does not use 

 every effort to gratify those institutions or persons, public 

 or private, who actively promote the intersc^.s of the 

 gardens. Under no circumstances are fees for such 

 objects to be accepted. 



VII. A sufficient stock of all useful and ornamental 

 plants should be kept for interchange with other gardens 

 in the Colony and elsewhere ; and, further, the Super- 

 intendent may often be required to cultivate a large stock 

 of certain plants for distribution in the Colony or else- 

 where. In the case of interchange, a sufficient return in 

 kind or otherwise should be required, at the discretion of 

 the Superintendent ; but no general distribution should 

 ever take place except under the orders of Govern- 

 ment, which should further decide under which of the 

 following conditions the stock should be distributed: — 



a. By sale by auction or otherwise. 



b. Gratis, under guarantee that the recipient of the 



plants will devote a certain amount of land, time, 

 and labour to their cultivation. 



c. Gratis to Government establishments or to Colonists 



or others who have benefited the gardens directly 

 or indirectly. 



Specific information regarding any of the aibove points 

 may be had by application to the Director of the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, who will be glad to recommend the books 

 most suited to each Colonial Garden, and the best and 

 lea^t expensive way of procuring them. He will also 

 give assistance towards naming dried specimens of the 

 plants of the Colony for the Superintendent, provided 

 the latter keeps up a Herbarium and a proper corre- 

 spondence in plants, etc., with the Royal Gardens. 



(Signed) W. T. Thiselton Dxee, 



Director, Royal Gardens, Kew. 



1. The Laboratory. — This was erected and equipped 

 to carry out the recommendation of the Devonshire 

 Commission by T. J. Phillips Jodrell, Esq., in 1876. 



2. The present herbarium building, 86 feet long, by 

 40 feet wide, was erected in 1877, to take the place of 

 the northern portion of the house, the remainder of 

 which is now devoted to the library. 



3. The North gallery was erected in 1880, at the ex- 

 pense of Miss Marianne North. 



4. The north wing of No. 1 Museum was erected in 

 1881 to afford increased accommodation for the 

 Economico-botanical collections taken over from the 

 India Museum. An addition principally for the Crypto- 

 gamic collections was also made in the same joar to 

 Museum No. II. 



5. The temperate house was completed by the erec- 

 tion in 1897 of the south, and in 1899 of the norlli wing. 



VI. 



There is nothing to add to what has been stated under 



rv. 



k2 



