( 3 )
In the Buldana district, the Superintendent visited 373, out of 423, villages
entered by the Vaccinators, and proved the correctness of 5,121, out of 6,256,
successfully recorded operations.
The Wun Superintendent examined work in 359, out of 575, villages, and
satisfied himself of the correctness of 3,584, out of 6,212, successful cases.
The Basim Superintendent visited 257, out of 337, villages, where the Vac-
cinators had been, and verified 3,490, out of 5,081, children marked.
In the Oomraottee district, the Superintendent, who was only appointed
at the beginning of the year, and was therefore new to the work, examined
3,126 successfully operated on children in 215 villages, the total number of
successful cases in the district being 5,917 performed in 215 villages.
The apparent fewness of villages
visited, explained.
11. In reading over the last paragraph, one
may be struck with the fewness of the number of
villages in which vaccination was carried on, and
the smallness of the number of children operated on, but then it must be re-
membered that vaccination is not compulsory in Berar. It may be accepted
or not by the people as they wish. The establishment has not yet been able to
work in every village, so the operation is new to many, who from apathy, timi-
dity, or other cause, will not bring their children forward to be vaccinated.
Others again as Mahomedans, Rajpoots and Brahmins, who ought to know the
benefits of vaccination, or at least have had opportunities of seeing that
the operation is not a dangerous one, in too many instances positively refuse
to allow their children to be vaccinated; besides the villages in many parts of
the province are small and distant from each other, so that, from one cause or
another, a Vaccinator has frequently to go long distances before he can get
children to operate on. Coupled with these difficulties, he can only work in
the mornings and evenings with a fair chance of success ; so that if he goes to
a place and finds no one to operate on, the best part of a day is lost, and if a
few fruitless journeys are made, in all probability a part of his supply of lymph
will go bad: under all these circumstances, if we go on for a few years making
gradual progress, and doing good work, we may hope that in time the people
will see, from the number of children successfully vaccinated, who will escape
small-pox, the benefit of the operation, as in the case instanced in last year's
report, when mothers brought their children 10 miles to be vaccinated.
Superintendent's work.
12. In judging of what I have myself done
in the management of the department and the
examination of work, it must be recollected that I am only able to devote a
portion of my time to this most important duty. Besides the general super-
vision of the whole of the department at the beginning of the working season,
I frequently visited places up and down the line of rail where vaccination was
commenced, to see that the first supply of lymph was good, and during the
camping season, which with me lasted from the end of October till the begin¬
ning of March, examined a very large number of children who had been vacci-
nated—in some villages to the number of from one hundred to two hundred—
in the Akola, Elichpur and Oomraottee districts, while the remainder were in
the Basim and Wun districts; and, on the whole, I confess that I am satisfied
with the results of my inspection, though from this it must not be inferred that
I did not find out mistakes: none of these, however, were due to exaggeration
of work done, but merely to incorrectness of the results entered. I was most
pleased with the work in the Elichpur and Akola districts, and least satisfied
with that of the Superintendent, Basim, who, if he does not mend his ways, will
find his services dispensed with. Mr. Pitts speaks in high praise of the Super-
intendent, Buldana district.