Ferdinand von Mueller

16/4/86

May I advise you, dear Mr Macdonald, to let Sir Edward

1

Edward Strickland.

know in reply to his very curteous letter, that when we urged the £500 to be given to Mr Forbes's Expedition, it was at the early time of all the arrangements, and it was then believed, that the expenditure for Capt Everill's enterprise

2

New Guinea exploring expedition, 1885.

would then be limited accordingly; furthermore an idea prevailed, that South Australia and N. Zealand would contribute, particularly the former, as its Port Darwin Territory is so near to New Guinea. I would urge also, that Sir Edward make an application to the West-Australian Government for a subsidy now, more particularly so, as the opening up of the Fly-River System must much benefit hereafter the Kimberley Country. The W.A. treasury is overflowing, and I have no doubt that Sir Edward could obtain a few hundred £ from thence. Surely no one will regret our support of Forbes,

3

Henry Forbes.

as otherwise Australia would have been entirely shut out of the enterprise of his to the highlands. I am glad, that the Report will soon appear now, as it will put us in a better position to invite more members to join.

I dread the idea that members get hold of the fact, that possibly any new vote would not be altogether used for new explorations but for liquidating outstanding accounts. Indeed this would jeopardize the vote.

Kindly tell Mr Griffith

4

George Griffiths.

that

5

I omitted?

intended to be at the R.S. meeting, to hear him on antarctic exploration,

6

Royal Society of Victoria. The meeting was held on 8 April 1886, but Griffiths sent a letter of apology, being unavoidably absent in Sydney (Transactions and proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 23 [1887], 258). He read his paper on evidence of past glaciation on Kerguelen Islands (Griffiths (1887)) at the next meeting, on 13 May 1886. M read B86.07.01 at the same meeting.

but made a mistake in the date.