PART II.—PROVINCIAL REPORT.
III.—EQUINE DISEASE
315. This important subject finds no place in the rules laid down for the pre-
paration of the Annual Administration Report of this Department, but owing
to the prevalence of glanders in India, I deem it advisable to give it a place
here under a separate heading, and to report the action taken in the various
outbreaks which have occurred during the year under review.
Bombay.
316. By far the most serious outbreaks of glanders are such as occur at
Bombay.
This being one of the largest horse marts of India, the occurrence of even
one case of glanders must be looked upon as most important, conveying, as it
is likely to do, contagium to cantonments to which horses are sent from
Bombay.
Whilst purchasing Arab stallions in November and December last, I en-
quired carefully into the working of Act XX of 1879, Glanders and Farcy
Act, and whilst doing so I was astonished to find the extent to which this
fatal disease existed. From 1st January to 30th November 1894, 35 cases had
been detected and destroyed. Of these, 4 were discovered on ships arriving
in the Bombay harbour. 12 came from the Arab and other Commission
stables, whilst 3 were found wandering about ownerless.
I bring these three different centres to notice, to prove how fertile must
be the means of spreading the disease.
Cases found on boardship. We know that glanders extends very rapidly
on boardship, yet what steps are taken with the remainder of the horses after
the affected one has been destroyed? As far as I can ascertain, none; the
remainder of the horses are landed and sold and sent all over India.
Cases found in Arab stables. No less than 6 of the largest commission
stables in Bombay were found to be affected, and during my visit, one case
occurred at Mohomed Misharia's stables. This animal was detroyed on the
certificate of Veterinary Captain Mills, but no steps were taken to isolate any
horse that had been in contact with the affected animal, and even the stall
from which the animal had been removed was not properly disinfected before
it was occupied by another horse.
With regard to cases which are found wandering about. The serious na-
ture of the disease appears to be so well known in Bombay that persons owning
glandered horses prefer to turn them loose than that they should be discovered
on their premises. Every endeavour should be made to discover the owners of
such horses, in order that they should be severely punished.
The above facts speak for themselves ; here we have a large horse market
with an average of 5,000 horses imported annually and glanders known to
exist amongst them, and yet no adequate means exist to cope with the disease.
The law as it stands is sufficient to meet all requirements but without an
efficient establishment to put it into force, it must become a dead letter. To
guard against this, certan recommendations were made to the Government of
Bombay in December last, but as yet I have not been informed whether they
have been accepted.
From districts in the Bombay Presidency, the following cases are reported
as having occurred during the year:—
Nasik ...
Thana ...
Ahmednagar
Colaba ...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
1
4
1
6
Baluchistan.!
317. During the year under review, the horses of the 7th Bengal Cavalry
were affected with glanders at Quetta and Sibi. Owing to the absence of an