Proceedings of the Hon'ble the Chief Commissioner and Agent to the Governor-General, North-West
Frontier Province,—No. 813-Ag., dated 19th August 1913.
READ—
Report on the working of the Civil Veterinary Department for the year ending 31st March 1913.
REMARKS.—Mr. Woodley held charge of the Department throughout
the year. He visited and inspected all the Veterinary hospitals and nearly,
all the tonga lines throughout the Province ; he also attended the Cattle Fairs
and Horse Shows at the various centres and undertook an extended tour in the
Kaghan Valley in connection with merino sheep-breeding in Hazara.
2. Veterinary instruction.—Of the three candidates from this Province
studying at the Punjab Veterinary College two passed the last final examination.
One of these was employed as Veterinary Assistant, but there being only one
vacancy in this Province, the other was permitted to take up an appointment
elsewhere.
3. Veterinary Establishment.—The work and conduct of the subordi-
nate Veterinary staff were on the whole satisfactory. As pointed out by the
Superintendent, however, the educational and professional qualifications of the
Assistants are generally poor, and the work of the Department does not appear
to have many attractions for a better stamp of man: this will perhaps remedy
itself in time.
4. Disease and its treatment.—Cases of contagious diseases dropped
again from 19,674 to 14,045 in the year under review, of which 3,496 proved
fatal against 5,245 last year. This is very satisfactory.
5. Veterinary institutions.—The number of hospitals remained the
same, namely 19. 49,465 cases were treated in these institutions, an increase
of 1,331 cases over the figures of last year. Veterinary Assistants on tour
visited 1,377 villages and treated 10,944 animals as compared with 1.352
villages and 12,671 animals last year. The increase in the number of cases
treated at the dispensaries and the decrease in the number of cases treated by
the Itinerating Assistants would seem to point to a growing preference on the
part of the public to take their animals to the central institutions. Certain
structural additions are still required at some of the dispensaries, but progress
in construction has been on the whole very satisfactory.
6. Breeding operations.—The sanctioned scale of stallions for the
Province was raised during the year by one horse stallion, bringing the total
up to 20 horses and 17 donkeys : of these 9 horse, 8 pony and 15 donkey
stallions were actually employed at stud : the total number of mares covered
by them was 1,954. The donkey stallions purchased from the Government
Cattle Farm at Hissar have not proved successful, and it will perhaps be found
advisable and more economical to make purchases in the local markets.
The experiment with merino rams in Hazara has been continued. The
report promised by the Superintendent and referred to in last year's review was
received : it showed that the experiment has been highly successful as far as
the quality of the wool produced is concerned, the Egerton Woollen Mills
Company declaring the cross-bred wool as the finest seen in India. There is
thus some prospect of introducing a remunerative wool trade in Kaghan, and
it is hoped that the Superintendent and the Deputy Commissioner, Hazara,
will continue to interest themselves in this venture. As proposed by the
Superintendent, a few ewes have now been imported from Australia, and the
results of this experiment will be watched with interest.
7. Shows and Fairs.—Cattle Fairs and Horse Shows were held during
the year in all the districts of the Province, and were generally well attended.
Rs. 10,789 were spent in this connection, of which Rs. 4.576 were contributed
by Local Bodies and Rs. 6,213 by the Imperial Government.