No. 267 OF 1887.
Bombay Veterinary College and Hospital, Parel,
Dated 27th April 1887.
FROM
J. H. STEEL, V. S.,
Superintendent, Bombay Veterinary College;
To
THE SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT,
Revenue Department.
SIR,
I have the honour to submit this the First Annual Report of the Bombay
Veterinary College for information of Government. A copy of the 1886 report
of the Bái Sákarbái Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals, on which the College
depends for clinical facilities, is appended, and, I trust, will be considered to indicate
a satisfactory development of that important institution, which, also, is under my
superintendence.
2. It will be remembered that the Hospital was opened publicly by His
Excellency the Viceroy on 10th December 1884, but owing to various reasons its
actual working did not commence until the 1st December 1885, when its wards
were opened for patients, and for the next seven months it was managed by an
agricultural graduate of Saidapet College, Mr. J. F. Lallee, with a fair amount of
efficiency. Government, having decided to push on the establishing of the Vete-
rinary College in the financial year 1886-87, deputed me to consult with the
Executive Engineer at the Presideney concerning the conversion of an old bungalow
on the Parel estate into a central building for College purposes, and the construc-
tion of minor buildings on ground placed at the disposal of Government by the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, by which it was held in trust as
a gift to the Society from the Pársi gentleman who is now Sir Dinshaw Maneckji
Petit. Mr. K. M. Shroff, as Secretary to the Society, attended at the consultations
to represent the wishes of the Society, and then, as on all other occasions, most
cordially advanced the College scheme.
3. Sanction having been accorded by Government to the plans and estimates
as drawn up, the Public Works Department at once took the work in hand. During
its progress Government officers were appointed to the College and Hospital and
arrangements were made for the opening of the College and for the working of
the Hospital under the clinical control of the Veterinary Officers of Government
and under the administrative supervision of the Superintendent. When, on 25th
May 1886,I was gazetted Superintendent of the College and Hospital, I at once
made a thorough inspection of the estate, the works in progress, and the Hospital, the
result being reported to Government in my letter No. 4, dated 29thMay 1886, which
shows that the Hospital presented capacities for development into a valuable
addition to the public charities of Bombay and into a clinical field for practical
education of students of the College, that the space and the buildings in course of
construction would suffice for the primary requirements of the College, and that
teaching work could be commenced in the then current year.
4. After careful study of the existing arrangements of the Hospital during
the month of June, I assumed charge on 1st July, and permitted such students
as had already entered their names to attend for practical study in the Hospital
from that date. The Central College building was placed at my disposal on 1st
August, and a certain amount of furniture got in by the 2nd idem, when the
first students, with their friends and some representatives of the public press,
attended for the introductory lecture and first official inspection of the Hospital.
From this date the educational work of the College has been steadily carried out
in accordance with the provisional scheme drawn up by me (No. 5, dated 1st
June 1886) and approved by Government (Resolution of Revenue Department
No. 4357 of 1886), and (subsequently) with the rules and regulations as sanctioned
by Government (Resolution, Revenue Department, No 1596, dated 16th March
1887).
5. Mr. J. F. Lallee's service with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals terminated on the appointment, as Assistant Superintendent of the Col-
lege and Hospital, of Mr. S. K. Nariman, a Graduate in Science and Medicine of the
B 535—1