116
" Anthrax.—The outbreaks of reported anthrax were chiefly confined to Guzerat, Ahmednagar
and Shikarpur, where the mortality was very high, being from 76 to 100 per cent. It also broke
out in Kanara, but was not of so virulent type.
" Foot and mouth disease.—Was prevalent, in most of the Deccan districts and also in Ratnagri.
The disease is of a very mild character, the mortality being shown as only 2.16, though it was
shown to be 27.7 in Satara.
" Pleuro-pneumonia.—Reported
only from four districts, Nasik, Sholapur, Ahmedabad and
Shikarpur. The number of deaths was 274 out of 336 attacked.
" Charbon symptomatique.—Was reported from Sholapur, Ratnagri, Kanara, and Kaira. Out
of 694 animals attacked 569 died or 81.98 per cent.
" Thus it will be seen that Kanara suffered most, having lost 4,173 animals out of 7,070 attack-
ed. Sholapur comes next with 1,246 deaths of 2,657 attacked."
The Reporting Officer, Hyderabad Assigned Districts, reports :—
" There has been no serious outbreak of any particular disease during the year. The return
submitted by the Veterinary Assistant showing that in no case have more than 26 cattle been
treated in any one village.
" The greatest number of deaths occurred from rinderpest."
The Superintendent, Bengal, reports as follows :—
" Cattle disease has been somewhat more prevalent during the year. Rinderpest seems to have
been the most serious although foot and mouth disease was the most widely distributed. The
latter affection caused considerable uneasiness in Darjeeling, where it principally attacked the
dairy cattle. In Chittagong rinderpest was extremely destructive, and must have caused great
distress to the people. It spread over 51 villages, and caused losses varying from 2 to 94 in each.
One thousand and six hundred and six cases of disease were reported, out of which 1,549 suc-
cumbed.
" At Jalpaiguri it was rumoured that on many of the tea gardens the whole of the cattle had
died, but no authentic information was received. From what could be gathered, and as the result
of much inquiry, it seems that rinderpest is endemic in the Duars, and from the nature of the
country it would be a hopeless task to thoroughly eradicate the disease. It is to be hoped that a
suitable vaccine may be discovered which will render housed cattle immune.
"The Central, Presidency, and Rampore Boalia Jails were particularly unfortunate in having
their young stock attacked with rinderpest, but owing to prompt attention the disease did not
spread.
" The Calcutta and Chitpore Goalas suffered many losses from rinderpest among their cattle.
"A few deaths are reported from Netrokona in the Mymensingh district.
" At Berhampore and Murshidabad many cattle died. At first it was considered that the
disease was anthrax, but it was found on investigation to be rinderpest.
" Foot and mouth disease.—During the year under report foot and mouth disease has been very
prevalent particularly in Darjeeling, Balasore, 24 Parganas, and the Chittagong h ills A short
description of the disease, with hints as to treatment, was given to the Deputy Commissioner
of Darjeeling, who had it printed in the vernacular and circulated. By this means the spread of
the disease was checked and the epidemic disappeared in five weeks.
" Anthrax and charbon symptomatique are comparatively rare diseases in Bengal, and I have
only seen one case of the latter which was admitted into the infirmary here.
" Pleuro-pneumonia in the contagious form may be said to be non-existant—at least no case
has come to my knowledge; so that of the contagious diseases only rinderpest, anthrax and
charbon symptomatique need our serious attention."
Besides these outbreaks, the Governor of Kashmir reported in December
last that 2,564 cattle died of rinderpest in Gilgit and 1,919 in Khuihama ilaka
The number of deaths in Astor and other tahsils was not reported.
In November 1894, there were 779 deaths from rinderpest in the villages
of Sri Ranbir Singhpura tahsil.
REMARKS.
Reliability of
Statistics.
323. With regard to this subject I can state with certainty that the statis-
tics are, in the great majority of cases, absolutely unreliable and misleading.
My own experience, of the reports received from district officers, is that they are
practically valueless as a rule, and the number of deaths would have to be
multiplied by many thousands to reach a figure representing the true total. I
may give as an instance of the unreliable nature of reports, the fact that the
Rohtak district last year returned no rinderpest, but from enquiries made dur-
ing my late tour it appears that no less than 87 villages were invaded by this
disease. This year no foot and mouth disease is reported, but to my personal
knowledge there was a good deal in the district. I may say that this district is