No. 337 OF 1888.
FROM
J. H. STEEL, V.S.,
Superintendent, Bombay Veterinary College ;
To
THE SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT,
Revenue Department.
Bombay Veterinary College and Hospital,
Parel, dated 25th of May 1888.
SIR,
I have the honour to submit this the Second Annual Report of the Bombay
Veterinary College for information of Government. To it I have appended the
1887 Report of the Bái Sáker Bái Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals which
has been submitted to the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, and will be found to indicate a considerable and satisfactory develop-
ment of that institution during the past year.
2. At the end of last official year the College consisted of a single class
numbering 64, of them 43 being eligible to appear for their First Professional
Examination in April. Under the College Rules and Regulations Government
appointed a Board consisting of Professor Gray of the Grant Medical College
and Veterinary Surgeons Meredith and O'Donel, which commenced to sit on 2nd
May 1887 and passed 34 of the candidates—6 in the 1st class, 19 in 2nd class,
and 9 in the pass class.
This result was reported to Government and considered satisfactory (Gov-
ernment Resolution, Revenue Department, No.4625, dated 19th July 1887). A
Supplementary Examination was permitted in September 1887, and the following
officers sat as the Board on that occasion : Dr. Deshmukh of the Grant Medical
College, Veterinary Surgeons (1st Class) Rayment, Grainger, and Veterinary
Surgeon Pottinger. This time two candidates appeared for the Second (or
Class B) Professional Examination. These were the Hospital Assistants sent
up from the Central Provinces, who were excused part of their veterinary
studies in consideration of previous professional education; both passed.' Seven-
teen candidates presented themselves for the First Professional Examination,
and of them 8 passed as follows:—5 in second class and 3 with special grace.
Thus there are now three classes of students in the College—A or Juniors, 38 ;
B or Intermediates, 40; C or Seniors, 2. During the past year instruction has
been given to Classes A and B, the Hospital Assistants attending with the latter
but receiving extra practical instruction. The results of the Supplementary
Examination were not satisfactory enough to encourage repetition annually; it
is open to the objections that the candidates are men who have had irregularly
arranged courses of instruction in consequence of having entered at irregular
times; it limits the available period of study in the short session, and it brings
fresh men into the senior classes at the middle period of work. It has the
advantage of allowing unsuccessful candidates another chance of passing their
examinations after less than a year extra study, but this is useful only in certain
cases constituting a small percentage of the rejections. Unless we could give
special courses to candidates for the September Supplementary Examination we
could hardly anticipate satisfactory results from it, and with the present amount
of College work special courses are quite impossible. Therefore, in future,
Supplementary Examinations will be resorted to only under very special circum-
stances, To regulate the classes those students who passed their First Examina-
tion in September 1887 are permitted to present themselves for the Second Exa-
mination in April 1888, and the two Hospital Assistants will, to their advantage,
B 330—1