Dismissed for Poor Etiquette

 "I am directed by his Excellency to state that the remark you were heard to make on his Excellency's beer at the late Viceregal Ball was neither courteous nor proper."

Etiquette in the Colonies

Mr. C. B. Croons, a contractor of Melbourne, having been declared by the Governor of the colony unfit to hold the appointment of a government contractor, wrote to the Colonial Secretary requesting to know what offense he had given, to which he received the following reply : 

"Colonial Secretary's office, June 3. 1855. Sir— His Excellency, the Governor, having duly considered your request to be informed of the grave charges brought against you, which have caused your dismissal, and having thought fit to accede to such request, I am directed by his Excellency to state that the remark you were heard to make on his Excellency's beer at the late Viceregal Ball was neither courteous nor proper. And, furthermore, that the want of discretion was aggravated by your recumbent bearing and gestures while in the act of leaving the supper room.

His Excellency, at the same time, directs me to state that although the offense would in itself come under the heading of extreme indiscretion, yet having been committed on a great state occasion, where court etiquette was obviously enforced on all sides, his Excellency had no other course open to him than to order your immediate public dismissal and official disgrace, independent of the fact of the bad example set by you to all other government contractors, whose duty it is at all times, and more especially in public, to support and countenance all articles of consumption furnished by official contract. I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, J. Moore, A. C. S. Charles B. Croons, Esq." – Daily Alta, 1855

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