5
Employment of graduates.
9. There can be no doubt that there is a demand spriging up for good
graduates and such men as take a thorough interest in
their profession. That these men will prove of value,
not only to their immediate employers, but to the country at large by the suppres-
sion of outbreaks of fatal and contagious maladies amongst horses and cattle, is un-
doubted. It is a pleasant duty, too, to record that, speaking generally, the gradu-
ates have given every satisfaction to their employers in the above capacity. Some
of them have also turned out to be excellent operators.
Every endeavour has been made by me to impress upon those who require
veterinary aid to employ graduates of the College in lieu of empirics. In this
I have, in many cases, succeeded, but still there is great room for improvement in
this direction. It is not, however, to be expected that we can advance rapidly,
because it must be borne in mind, that the people we are dealing with are most
conservative in their ideas, and it is purely a question of educating them up to
what we wish them to do. The College is in its infancy and, as such, it has
hardly dawned upon the minds of the stock-owning community what the value of
scientific veterinary treatment means, and it must, for years yet, be a war be-
tween what is rational and right, and what is empirical and wrong.
It is a matter at times to me of no little anxiety to be able to find suitable
employment for graduates, and to find graduates who are willing to take up some
of the appointments offered, for the reason that most appointments stand upon
such an insecure basis that men cannot reasonably be expected to accept them,
and I can see no prospect of a change for the better taking place unless appoint-
ments are put upon a sound and firm footing as recommended by me in paragraph 6.
Appendix G shows how the new graduates are employed. Several of the
appointments secured during the year deserve special mention. His Highness the
Nizám of: Hyderabad has indicated his readiness to recognize the profession by
giving a graduate an appointment on a salary of Rs. 180. It is under contempla-
tion to organise a regular Veterinary Department in His Highness's dominions
which will give employment to a number of men. This is a step in the right
direction, and one which might well be followed with advantage and profit by
many other Native States. Rájpipla State Administration have engaged the
services of one of our graduates on a salary of Rs. 60—100.
Bhávnagar has decidedly shown the enlightened hand of advancement
which rules this State. They have employed one graduate on a salary of Rs. 75,
in addition to the student they educated entirely at their own expense at this
College, and who obtained his diploma. Kolhápur, a State renowned for its famous
breed of Khallari cattle, has also engaged an extra graduate and placed him in
charge of a veterinary dispensary. Miraj Junior applied for the services of a
graduate, but only retained them for a few months, because it was said that the
resources of the State would not allow of this extra expenditure at a period of
great scarcity. Jámnagar and Wadhwán States have given suitable posts to
their own men trained and passed out of the College.
The following district veterinary dispensary and itinerating posts have
been created during the year on salaries commencing at Rs. 50 per mensem:—
Belgaum Dispensary.
Dhulia Dispensary.
Kaira Itinerating.
Contagions diseases.
10. Rinderpest has been more or less prevalent throughout the year. The
death-rate was not as high as one would expect from
this disease, and I am inclined to think that this is a less
virulent malady in India than elsewhere. I, however, found the typical lesions
in every post-mortem examination made. An outbreak of this disease was
reported to this office by the Collector of Thána and a graduate was dispatched
at once to cope with it. Here too he found the mortality only reached 40 per
cent., where cases were properly treated; but before his arrival and where no
curative measures had been adopted, the death-rate was 75 per cent., which clearly
proves the value of skilled veterinary aid in such outbreaks. The people of
the district gladly accepted the help offered to them except in a few instances
where their superstitious belief took the upper hand of them.
B 685—2