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No. 7, unit 2, p. 66, VPRS 1092 Governor's letter books, VA 466 Governor, Public Record Office, Victoria. 59.05.05Preferred Citation:
Octavius Timins to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1859-05-05. R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells (eds), Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, <https://vmcp.rbg.vic.gov.au/id//letters/1850-9/1859/59-05-05-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026
1
For a copy of this letter, see Transactions of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria
, vol. 4 (1860), p. xiv.
Sir,
I am directed by the Governor to enclose a copy of a letter from the Secretary of
the Society of Arts, which has been forwarded to His Excellency by the Right Honorable
the Secretary of State for the Colonies in a Despatch pointing out the expediency
of disseminating accurate statements of the resources of the Colonies, and of the
bearing of such resources upon Trade; and I am desired to state that His Excellency
will be happy to receive your co-operation in the matter
2
The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, London, with
the cooperation of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, sent a circular to the
governors of British Colonies soliciting their help in obtaining information about
the natural resources of the colonies. The circular took the form of a letter written
by the Secretary of the Society, P. Le Neve Foster, to the Under Secretary of State
for the Colonies, the Earl of Carnarvon, dated 1 January 1859. In the letter Le Neve
Foster outlined the measures the Council of the Society had considered the best ones
for obtaining the information required. '1. That such colonies as consider that the
meetings and proceedings of the Society of Arts would at all serve to give publicity
to their resources, and tend to increase the demand for their productions, should
select some competent person, or existing society in the colony, to frame a complete
statement of the points upon which it is considered that the public of the mother-country
are not sufficiently informed. | 2. That the individual or public body thus selected
should at once be put in direct communication with the Society of Arts. | 3. That
the person or persons thus chosen should also designate, and obtain the consent of,
some well-informed person in this country, either himself to read, at an evening meeting
of the Society, the paper prepared in the colony, or to confer with the Council as
to the best method of securing their common objects.' (No. 42, unit 5, p. 178, VPRS
1088 circulars from Secretary of State, VA 466 Governor, Public Record Office, Victoria).
The Governor of Victoria, Henry Barkly, sent copies of this circular to the Chairman
of the Mechanics Institute and to M as President of the Philosophical Institute.
I have &c
(sd) O. F. Timins
The President of the Philosophical Institute
3
The Philosophical Institute of Victoria appointed a committee to respond to the circular
consisting of: C. Hodgkinson, A. Selwyn, J. Macadam, F. McCoy, T. Skilling, G. Holmes,
J. I. Bleasdale, A. K. Smith, P. H. MacGillivray, H. Amsinck and M. See Transactions of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria
, vol. 4 (1860), pp. xiii-xv.
The committee's report was published as an appendix to the Transactions of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria for1860 with an introductory letter by M and M. Irving (M & M. Irving to the Council
of the Royal Society of Victoria, 9 April 1860). M was co-author of the sections on
indigenous vegetable productions (B60.14.03) and agriculture and horticulture (B60.14.01).