Bombay Veterinary College : Annual Report of the—for
the year 1889-90.
No. 7933.
REVENUE DEPARTMENT.
Bombay Castle, 7th November 1890.
Letter from the Principal, Bombay Veterinary College, No. 522, dated 25th May 1890—
Submitting the Annual Report of the Bombay Veterinary College for the year 1889-90.
RESOLUTION.—The number of students on the College rolls at the end of
the year 1888-89 was 75, of whom 25 passed out of the College as graduates
during the year under report, 1 died and 11 left the College either because they
found the course prescribed too difficult for them or for other reasons. Only
11 fresh students were admitted during the year. The number at the end of
1889-90 thus stood at 49. Though the number (11) of fresh entries during the
year is larger than the number (6) admitted in 1888-89, it seems to the Governor
in Council to be less than might have been expected or desired. It is possible
that the smallness of the number of students joining the College may be in
some measure due to a feeling of uncertainty as to the prospects of those who
graduate therein, but the facts noticed by the Principal that only 2 of the 25
persons who became graduates in 1889 are unemployed and that the new Civil
Veterinary Department when organized will open out a fresh field for employment
will no doubt serve as inducements to young men to join the College. It may
also be observed that the future prosperity of the Institution will to a considerable
extent depend not only on the number of its graduates who obtain appoint-
ments under the British Government, Native Chiefs, and Local and Municipal
Boards, but also on the success attained by those graduates who have commenced
independent practice. It appears that already three of the graduates of 1889
have started as private practitioners in Bombay. Of the 49 students on the
register 17 belong to Native States and two are nominees of the District Local
Boards of Karáchi and Shikárpur. The present is the first occasion on which
students from Sind have entered the College and it is to be hoped that their
number will gradually increase.
2. In all 71 students presented themselves during the year for examina-
tion before the Special Board of Examiners appointed for the College, of whom
59 or nearly 83 per cent. passed the prescribed tests. Of these 59, 25 passed
the final examination, 12 the first professional and 22 the second professional
examination. Two of the members of the College staff appeared for the Special
License examination and one was successful. Certain proposals made by the
Board of Examiners regarding alterations in the course of study, the subjects of
instruction and the system of giving marks were sanctioned in Government
Resolution No. 944, dated 4th February 1890.
3. Of the 25 veterinary graduates who passed out in 1889 two belonged
to the Central Provinces, one to Berárs, two to Baroda and one to Madras. All
these have found employment in their respective Provinces. The remaining 19
belonged to the Bombay Presidency. Three of these have been employed as
Instructors or Assistants in the Bombay Veterinary College, 4 as Veterinary
officers in charge of the local dispensaries started at Ahmedabad, Nadiád, Dhulia
and Násik, and 3 as Veterinary Assistants under the Bombay, Surat and Banga-
lore Municipalities: one has been employed in the Burma mounted police, one
in the Morvi State and one in the State of Bikaneer: one was sent as Veterinary
officer to the Andamans but has returned since the close of the year. Of the
remaining 5 three have commenced business as private practitioners in Bombay,
and two are without employment. Six of the passed men were Government or
municipal free students. Government have read with interest the remarks