At the same time of directed Mr Cernean to carry out all the Ford's instructions in connection with such work, as the Fords might deem urgent. M. Ford however declined to give Mr Cernean any instructions regarding the plants said to be missing. The Acting Superintendent Mr Bowdler and also Mr Cernean both affirmed that they had been careful in taking over charge to familiarize themselves with the existing stock, and the plants must have suffered in consequence.
18. In the same paragraph 20 Mr. Ford states that during his absence on leave one hundred and eight species of plants were lost and that he furnished the list of the same to Mr Bowdler who had succeeded him in the superintendence of the gardens. No sooner was I apprised of the alleged loss than I investigated the matter. No clue however could be found and we were at a loss to understand how so wholesale a reduction could possibly have escaped their observation. They were able to account for losses amounting to about so species and other plants had by mistake been removed by M. Cornean.
M. Ford's excessively long list made so heavy a task, it was inexplicable, the more so as he expressed his opinion that the plants in question could not have been stolen as they were not of a kind...
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