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Ahmedabad.—A. Veterinary Assistant is in charge of this dispensary.
In addition to this, he attended the weekly markets and visited
villages where gloss anthrax was prevalent.
Nadiad.—Veterinary Assistant in charge of dispensary. This man is
reported to have done good work.
Kaira.—The Veterinary Assistant here is employed on itinerating
duty and appears to have done good work during the year.
Surat.—A dispensary was opened during the year and the Veterinary
Assistant appears to have done good work. An Itinerating Ve-
terinary Assistant is recommended for this district.
Karachi.—Excellent work appears to have been done by the Veterinary
Assistant at Karachi. Not only did he attend to the dispensary
duties, but he also treated the animals belonging to the Police,
Municipality, Zoological Gardens, and examined Police remounts
prior to purchase.
Three Veterinary Assistants are employed in Sindh—one at Hyderabad, the
other two in Shikarpur. All appear to have done good work.
From the above it will be seen that 11 Veterinary Assistants are employed
in Bombay Presidency, and 3 in Sindh.
The Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, states that very satis-
factory progress has been made during the year, and with this I agree, except
with regard to castration. On this point the Superintendent remarks :—
'' Only 19 cases of castration are reported by the Veterinary Assistants. They do not seem
to have been active in impressing on owners the expediency of castrating, although the matter was
brought to their notice in my last annual report. It is therefore suggested that the Presidents of
the dispensary committees should make the Veterinary Assistants pay particular attention to castra-
tion as it is without doubt one of their chief duties, especially of those that are situated in the
middle of the horse breeding districts."
Burma.
353. This province has made great strides in the employment of Veteri-
nary Assistants : for, whereas at the commencement of the year, only 15 were
entertained, 45 are shown as being at work on 31st March 1895.
Generally speaking, the Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department,
Burma, is of opinion that the Subordinate Veterinary Staff, has done good
work. Encouragement has been given to those who performed good work and
who had sufficient service by the grant of a step of promotion.
The Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, states :—
" Considering it was their first year at district work, most of the newly appointed Assistants
have worked satisfactorily."
He further adds that some of the best students turned out badly in the
districts, whilst others who gave much trouble as pupils have turned out ex-
cellent Assistants.
The district work appears to have told heavily on these men, several of
whom had to be invalided for malarial fever, dysentery, etc.
Veterinary Captain Pease, Assistant to the Inspector-General, Civil Vete-
rinary Department, has reported as follows :—
" With regard to the Veterinary Assistants employed in the districts, I think that their
services are not fully utilized owing to lack of proper supervision. The men are turned out of
school with a good general knowledge and are capable of doing much good work in the districts,
provided they are directed what work to do and shown how to do it. Under the present system,
the men go to a tahsil and provided they make themselves agreeable to the tahsil authorities,
they may do practically what work they like and the most that is expected of them is that they
should go to villages where contagious diseases are prevalent and there do what they think
proper. Under this system or rather lack of system not only is much valuable power wasted, but
the men get slack and forget the work they are taught at college.
" These men know practically nothing about their district or the animals in it as a rule, and
as the majority of them told me during my tour, they had no idea that anything of the kind was
expected from them. I think it advisable that the first duty of Veterinary Assistants should
be to make themselves thoroughly well acquainted with all matters connected with the animals
in their district. They should travel steadily through it as opportunity occurs, and note on all
points connected with animals and animal disease. They should make themselves known to
the villages and volunteer treatment and advice on simple matters wherever they go. They
should make themselves acquainted with the breeds of cattle in each district, approximate
numbers, quality, size, and general management
The number and suitability of the bulls employ-
ed by the people ; whether the people breed for sale. etc., etc. The suitability of the Hissar bulls,
results of the operations regarding breeding from these animals and whether they are appreciated
by the people, should demand their attention. They should collect information regarding contagious
diseases and collect any other information regarding animals and disease, which the Superinten-
dent may direct. All their enquiries should be recorded for reference. All this work could be
done by these men if they were shown how to do it and helped by a properly qualified supervising
officer."