34
may be exercised and efficiency maintained. The want of a few more officers
is therefore now becoming acutely felt. In the circumstances, the work has
fallen very heavily on the staff and I consider that they deserve great credit
for the manner in which they have attempted to cope with it during the
year.
225. We have been unable for want of officers to appoint Pathologists to
the College laboratories although we fully recognise the necessity for doing
so. Research work has been much hindered for want of properly qualified
officers especially for field work, as the Laboratory staff has its hands full
with the preparation of serum at present.
226. The reorganization of the various subordinate establishments will
render progress as rapid as is possible in filling up the sanctioned posts. We
can only employ Assistants as they graduate from the Colleges and as the
number available is limited, it will take a good many years before the sanc-
tioned strength can be reached in many provinces.
227. The appointment of Inspectors is reported to have resulted in con-
siderable improvement in the work in districts. Wherever it has been possible,
officers have visited more outbreaks of disease in districts, but in some cases
little has been done in this most important matter.
228. The time has now arrived when every effort should be made to check
the inoculation work reported by the subordinate staff in the field and to
obtain more reliable information regarding the results in the field.
229. With reference to the remark made in the review of last year's An-
nual Administration Report regarding the training of an indigenous staff quali-
fied not only for administrative work but also for research, there can be no
doubt whatever that in the future, when we begin to att
by means of living vaccines, we shall require a far more highly trained native
agency for the purpose than we at present possess, and it will be necessary for
us to train them in this country. But, in the meantime, the Department being
a young and growing one, the demand for the services of such an agency does
not justify the establishment of a special College for this purpose. I should be
very glad indeed to see such a College started if sanction to a staff of well
qualified teachers were obtained and if the graduates could be given work when
they qualified. But I do not see how this could possibly be done at present, as
the total strength of our cadre of Imperial officers is only 31 and the number of
Deputy Superintendents sanctioned only 26. The demand for men to replace
casualties would therefore be very small indeed and would certainly not justify
the establishment of a properly equipped college for the purpose. The only
method of obtaining men for research work would be to train them at home
which would take 5 or 6 years and be a very costly process, besides which, it
would be impossible to decide beforehand whether they would have the particu-
lar bent and ability required in a research officer.
230. A Veterinary Conference composed of the senior "Veterinary officers,
the Inspector General of Agriculture, and the various Directors of Agriculture,
was held in Calcutta in February last to discuss various questions connected
with the establishment of a Board of Veterinary Science. Research, veteri-
nary education, publications, cattle export, etc., were discussed and the Pro-
ceedings duly submitted. The Conference was productive indirectly of much
good as it gave Directors and Veterinary officers an opportunity of meeting
together and discussing various questions in which we are all vitally
concerned.
231. There can be no doubt that the important work performed by the
Department is being daily more recognised, both by Provincial Governments
and by the people. A number of new hospitals and dispensaries have been
opened, horse and mule breeding continues to improve, the work done in the
laboratory has been very satisfactory, more outbreaks of disease have been
dealt with and incontact animals inoculated and the serum treatment of Rin-
derpest is making steady headway. Considerable progress has been made in
the study of camel diseases during the short time Mr. Leese has been employed