2
larger, to find employment for all after graduation. A reference to Appendix C
will show that only 10 of the fresh students are independent, whilst the rest are
nominees of Native States which bear all their College and other expenses on the
understanding that the students after graduating will serve the States, if requir-
ed, on fixed salaries ranging from Rs. 50 to Rs. 100 per mensem.
The majority of students entering the College are quite suited for the pro-
fession both from their preliminary education and physical stamina. The latter
desideratum is, however, wanting in a few of them, who cannot be expected to
turn out good veterinarians. Such men have to be admitted into the College
owing to paucity of entries. Some of them improve greatly while at the College
and turn out fairly good veterinarians, though they generally take five or six
years to pass out instead of the usual three years; while others are forced to
retire through constant failure, mostly in practical work.
Appendix D shows the number of students of each nationality on the Col-
lege rolls during 1890-91. In regard to physique the Mahomedans, Pársis
and Christians are decidedly better suited for the profession than the Hindus,
but, unfortunately, the prospects held out to the graduates are too poor to at-
tract the better class of men in larger numbers than at present. The organisation
of the Civil Veterinary Department was looked forward to by the graduates and
the students as a means of bettering their prospects and improving their status,
and by the teaching staff as a means of inducing a better stamp of men to join
the College. But these hopes are not likely to be realised as Government have
been pleased to decide in paragraph 6 of their Resolution, Revenue Department,
No. 2011, dated 18th March 1891, that the graduates to be employed in the
Civil Veterinary Department will not be enrolled as servants of Government
entitled to the privilege of pension, &c., but will be considered as employés of the
Local Boards concerned.
* Average number
of
students in the College :—
1886-87. 1887-88.
69
80
1888-89. 1889-90.1890-91.
75
49
42
5. To improve the state of the College, to better the prospects of the
graduates, and to save the College from a slow but
steady decline,* either the Government must be
prepared to guarantee a few appointments every year
to graduates, or else it is essential to fall back on a
scheme once approved by the College Managing. Com-
mittee when considering the draft College rules and
regulations, but since abandoned. Under this scheme, the College curriculum
will be divided into two main branches, one comprising a three-years' course as
at present, and the other extending only over two years. The latter course will
be of a thoroughly practical nature, and students who go through it will be
subjected to oral and practical examinations, after passing which they will be
entitled to receive certificates from the College as Veterinary Assistants. The
holders of such certificates will not have such high aspirations as the present
graduates and they will easily obtain suitable employment as salutris in the Com-
missariat Department, in the Horse-breeding Department, in the Police, under
Local Boards, &c., on moderate salaries. The present diploma must be retained
for students who go through a three-years' course of study, but only those
should be admitted to this course who join the College after passing the Matri-
culation, or School Final Examination of the University, or else pass a strict
entrance examination at the College comprising all the subjects required at the
English Veterinary Colleges, and whose previous training and physical stamina
are such as to ensure their becoming good veterinarians and thus do honour to
the College. Under such an arrangement, there would be some chance of get-
ting the College affiliated to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, as the
insufficiency of our present entrance test is believed to be the main reason
which led the Royal College authorities to refuse the concession, among others,
to the Bombay Veterinary College some time ago.
6. Appendix E is a return showing Native States and Local Boards'
students. It is satisfactory to note that the number of such students has in-
creased from two in 1889-90 to six in the year under report, though the total
number of such students in the College has fallen from 19 to 17 on account of
a large number having been successful at the diploma examination.