29
REVIEW BY THE DIRECTOR, LAND RECORDS
AND AGRICULTURE.
No. 3548 OF 1892.
Poona, 10th December 1892.
Forwarded with compliments.
2. Veterinary Captain Grainger was in charge of the Department during
the year under report; he was succeeded, on the 20th May, 1892, by Veterinary
Captain Morgan, who has added to the report, written by his predecessor, notes
on the statistics appended.
* This office No. 3513,
dated 10th December 1892.
3. It is desirable that the form of these reports, which is extremely faulty,
both in respect of the arrangement of the text and
of the appended statistical information, should be
amended. On this subject full proposals have been
made separately* on a reference received from the Government of India.
Poona.
Ahmadnagar.
Násik.
Khándesh.
Ahmadabad.
Karachi.
Hyderabad.
Shikárpur.
Upper Sind
Frontier.
4. Veterinary Captain Grainger visited the districts noted in the margin
and also the following places on duty:—Quetta,
Sibi, Cutch Mándvi, Bhúj, Deesa, and Bombay.
He attended horse-shows at Poona, Quetta,
Shikárpur, Ahmadabad and Sibi. Owing to sick-
ness he was unable to attend the Ahmadnagar
Show. His tour appears to have been sufficient and well-planned.
5. The number of remounts purchased for the Bombay Presidency and
Sind fell from 435 in 1890-91 to 251, of which the Native Cavalry took 101,
Police 92, and the Ahmadnagar Rearing Depôt 58. At the Sind and Beluchis-
tán horse-shows 184 additional remounts were obtained for other provinces as
against 137 in the preceding year, making a total decrease of 137 (435 against 572),
6. Of the 251 remounts for the Presidency and Sind, 34, or 13 per cent.,
were the ascertained produce of Government stallions. These horses were pre-
sumably the produce of 1885-86 and 1886-87 coverings, when there were 89 and
122 horse and pony stallions on the registers (including Beluchistán). The
number now on the registers is. 99.
7. It is clear that in this respect Government is obtaining a very indifferent
return for outlay. In 1890-91, 435 animals were obtained, of which 168 were
the produce of Government stallions, but the proportion was greatly raised in
that year by the large purchases for the Ahmadnagar Depôt, the young stock
being selected to some extent for pedigree. The returns do not afford data for
the comparison of the total number of remounts (Army Remount Department
included), obtained in the Presidency, Beluchistán, and Sind with the number
of horse stallions (ponies excluded) serving in these territories, nor do they show
the proportion sired by these stallions. There should be no further difficulty
in reporting these figures than lies in the occasional uncertainty of pedigree, and
the doubtful cases should be separately shown, as is done for the Presidential
remounts in the present report (Appendix X). These data are essential to a
correct appreciation of the amount of benefit derived by Army and Police from
the horse-breeding operations.
8. The number of mares covered by horse and pony stallions (including
the Beluchistán stud) was 3,087 as against 3,270 last year, with an average
per stallion of 34.81 against 37.5. The decrease is attributed, probably with
justice, to the want of fodder in an unfavourable season and to the consequent
falling off in the number and condition of the mares. In the Presidency Proper
the average was only 28.79; in Sind and Cutch it was 34.19; in Beluchistán 54.36.
The full utilization of stallions being the first essential to success it is unfortu-
nate that more mares could not be put to them. In this respect the failure has
been continuous, the highest average during the past five years being 33 in the
Presidency and 41 in Sind and Cutch.
B 367—8