139
On this subject, the Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, reports
as follows:—
"At the end of last year, 10 Veterinary Assistants were at work in the districts; during the
year under report, 5 more have been appointed, one to each of the following districts:—
" Muttra, Etawah, Shahjehanpur, Bareilly, and Naini Tal.
" Those men have been engaged in the treatment, suppression and prevention of disease amongst
horses and cattle, and the castration of colts, etc. They tour through their districts, visit the
different villages, enquire for disease and advise as to the best means of treatment or suppression.
Most of them are young men and new to their work, and it is hoped that with a little more ex-
perience they will render valuable services to the districts. They require more supervision than
1 have at present the time to give them.
"I have recently ordered Veterinary Assistants to keep diaries in which the places visited and
work done daily is to be entered, and to submit a copy of them to me through the Collectors of
their districts, once a fortnight, and to submit, in a similar manner, monthly returns showing
the number of castrations. I also hope soon to be able to issue rules for their guidance defining
what their duties are. In this way I hope to be able to exercise more supervision over them
than has been done during the present year.
" As will be seen from the accompanying Table, 115 colts were castrated by the Veterinary
Assistants during the year; of these, the greatest number was castrated in the Naini Tal district,
and the smallest in Muttra and Muzaffarnagar, Some of them were under the impression that
they were only required to castrate colts the produce of Provincial stallions, so next year I expect
to find a much greater number of castrations."
In order to obtain uniformity and to ensure the greatest amount of super-
vision possible, the same form of diary which has lately been adopted in the
Punjab will be recommended for use in North-Western Provinces.
Berar.
In Berar, only one Veterinary Assistant is employed; he appears to have
worked satisfactorily. For 5 months he was engaged touring in various parts
of the province, and when not on tour, he was in charge of the dispensary at
Amraoti.
Mr. F. W. Francis, who submits the report owing to the absence of Ve-
terinary Captain Short on furlough, on medical certificate, states :—
" Owing to delay in the submission of village reports, he (the Veterinary Assistant) frequent-
ly arrived to find that the disease had altogether abated and a good deal of his time was thus un-
necessarily wasted in travelling."
This points to the necessity of some organization, but I fear that little can
be done until the Veterinary Subordinate Staff is strengthened, and until some
good and experienced Veterinary Officer is available for duty in this province.
Central Provin-
ces.
350. No report has been received from the Central Provinces owing, it is
presumed, to Veterinary Captain Short's absence.
Baluchistan
351. No Veterinary Assistants are employed in this Agency.
Bombay.
352. From a report received from the Superintendent, Civil Veterinary
Department, it appears that the following Veterinary Assistants are em-
ployed :—
Nasik.—One Veterinary Graduate in charge of the dispensary.
Nasik.—One Itinerating Veterinary Assistant was appointed during the
year. He appears to have worked well but met with opposition
from the villagers in the steps he took towards suppressing out-
breaks. Care should be exercised not to press the ryots at the
onset, and I am pleased to find that the Superintendent, Civil
Veterinary Department, remarks as follows:—
" It is to be hoped that time and tact will rectify these matters. It would, I think, be ad-
visable for him to travel slower, to roughly treat his own cases, and let the people realise the
advantages to be gained by the advice of skilled men."
Dhulia.—One Veterinary Assistant in charge of the dispensary who
also treated cattle during outbreaks of rinderpest and foot and
mouth disease and visited all the Local Cattle Markets.
Jalgaon.—One Veterinary Assistant in charge of the dispensary.
Bhadgaon.—An Itinerating Veterinary Assistant is employed here.
Belgaum.—The Veterinary Assistant at Belgaum performs both the
duties of Stationary and Itinerating dispensaries.
This Veterinary Assistant appears to have done good work.