7
14. As regards the teaching staff of the College, there were more changes
during the year under report than in any previous year.
The late Veterinary Surgeon Steel was Principal from 1st April to 5th Decem-
ber 1890 : Dr. S. K. Nariman, Acting Principal, from 6th December 1890 to 8th
January 1891, and sub. pro-tem. Principal from 9th January to 31st March 1891.
In the death of Veterinary Surgeon J. H. Steel, F.R.C.V.S., F.Z.S., this
College has lost its very backbone. During his career in the College he had
endeared himself equally to all, his colleagues, graduates and students. He showed
considerable tact and zeal in organizing the College, the first of its kind in the
whole of India, and the present high status of the institution is to a great extent
due to his exertions. Both as a teacher and a scientific man he displayed extra-
ordinary abilities. His death is a terrible blow to the veterinary profession of
which he was a promiment member and to the cause of Veterinary Science in
general. He published several standard works and was the Editor of the Quarterly
Journal of Veterinary Science in India. His name is also associated with many
scientific researches, and had he been spared he would have distinguished himself
much more. It is a matter of great satisfaction to note that the members of the
staff and the graduates and students of the College have collected a decent sum
of money, part of which is to be spent on a bromide bust of the deceased, to be
placed in a prominent place in the College, and out of the remainder a silver medal
bearing his name will be instituted, to be awarded to the student who passes the
examination with the highest number of marks in handling of animals—a subject
in which he took the greatest interest.
In Government Resolution, Revenue Department, No. 1304, dated 18th
February 1891, Veterinary Surgeon (1st Class) G. J. R. Rayment, F.R.C.V.S.,
was appointed to be Principal of the College.
Assistant Professor and Resident Veterinary Officer Dr. Nariman went
on privilege leave to Europe from 6th June for three months, and was further
detained by the Secretary of State for India in Council at the recommendation of
Bombay Government for nearly three months more to see bacteriological work in
English schools and at M. Pasteur's Institute. Experience thus gained by him
will be utilized in conducting the Patho-Bacteriological Laboratory recently
opened in connection with the College. During his stay in Europe, he also visited
the Alfort Veterinary College at Paris and the four Veterinary Colleges of Great
Britain. Although he has not succedeed in obtaining from the Royal College
of Veterinary Surgeons certain concessions for which he had applied, he is still in
correspondence with the authorities of that College to get himself recognized as
a Colonial or Foreign Veterinary Surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons Act of
1881, so that he may get the diploma of M.R.C.V.S. by keeping only three
sessions (one year) at a British Veterinary College. During Dr. Nariman's
absence, Mr. Nanabhoy Nursingrao, G.B.V.C., acted as Assistant Professor, &c.
He performed his work satisfactorily and gave good help to the late Mr. Steel,
especially in the hospital work. The greater part of the College duties of the
Assistant Professor, however, had to be performed by Mr. Steel and the other
Instructors On account of paucity of College teachers, the absence of either the
Principal or the Assistant Professor tells heavily on one of them. Thus when
Dr. Nariman held the post of Principal, as Government decided in their Resolution,
Revenue Department, No. 9250, dated 31st December 1890, not to fill up the
vacancy of Assistant Professor, it was found alsolutely necessary to contrive some
make-shift to carry on the work of the College, as all the three-years' classes
were working and as the professional examinations were drawing nigh. The
College classes of Assistant Professor were divided between the Principal and the
Instructors, while the duties of the resident Veterinary Officer were entirly en-
trusted to the two Assistant Veterinary Officers. This arrangement worked very
well. The Assistant Veterinary Officers deserve some remuneration for the extra
duties thus performed by them beyond office hours and it is intended to move
Government in the matter. Nowithstanding these arrangements, the students
of the senior class did suffer somewhat in their studies, and it would be well if
Government would in future see their way to filling up the vacancies as they
arise.