( 10 )
provide for up-keep would come in. Purnea is a great cattle country. The
Khagra Fair is reported to be larger than Sonepur or Sitamarhi. There are not
less than 200 horses and ponies in and about Purnea itself.
22. Bhagalpur.—I visited this town in the hope of at last getting a
Veterinary Assistant engaged permanently. So far the result has not been
apparent, yet Bhagalpur loses many cattle yearly. The members of the District
Board, however, do not appear to be cattle-owners.
23. There is some reason for the belief that Purnea, Bhagalpur, and
Calcutta are the three chief centres whence infectious cattle diseases are spread.
Strange to say, none of these places has any public veterinary arrangements.
GLANDERS AND FARCY.
24. In Calcutta and Us suburbs.—The subject of the extension of the
Glanders and Farcy Act, XIII of 1899, to Calcutta and its suburbs is still under
consideration. A scheme for the staff and organization necessary to work the
Act in this City and its suburbs was submitted.
Twenty cases of glanders were admitted into the Bengal Veterinary College
Hospital in 1900-1901 against 32 in 1899-1900. From these figures it should
not be deduced that glanders is less prevalent.
25. In districts.—During the year, 34 cases of glanders and farcy were
detected in the districts, viz., 2 in Arrah, 1 in Patna, 1 in Dacca, 3 in Tippera,
6 in Nadia, 3 in Burdwan, 1 in Saran (Sonepur méla), and 17 in Sonthal
Parganas (Dumka). Ten of these animals died, and the rest were destroyed.
One case from Burdwan and 17 from Dumka were not reported to the
Inspector-General, Civil Veterinary Department, and to the Military Officers,
as the information was received too late to be of use. I regret to say
that delays occurred in other instances. In order that in future immediate
reports might be secured, a circular was issued by the Director of Land Records
and Agriculture, Bengal, to the District Officers, calling their attention to the
urgency of the matter. I have also warned all the Veterinary Assistants.
The detection of these cases of glanders shows that the Subordinate Veteri-
nary Department is beginning to make itself felt; and that the disease is more
prevalent in the mufassal than was supposed.
INSPECTION OF HORSE-BOXES AND CATTLE-TRUCKS.
26. By direction of the Inspector-General, Civil Veterinary Department,
I have inspected the horse-boxes and cattle-trucks on the East Indian and
some of the other Railways as often as possible, and have deputed the Assist-
ant Superintendent and the lecturers, from time to time, when they could be
spared. The object of these inspections has been to ascertain how much
disinfection has been done, and in a quiet, friendly way to point out to the
foremen any omissions or mistakes that have been noticed.
It may be well to remark that the disinfection of horse-boxes, etc., is not
yet thoroughly understood by the men in charge of the work. I found,
however, that the remains of forage and dung of a former occupant of a horse-
box were generally removed before another was put in his place. Those
animals which are most likely to convey glanders belong to native dealers,
who use cattle-trucks only. Hence the danger of valuable horses becoming
infected in horse-boxes is not great.
CATTLE DISEASE.
27. A perusal of Table M will show that cattle disease made its appear-
ance, more or less, in all the districts of Bengal, except Purnea and Angul, where
also disease occurred no doubt, but was not reported. The number of reported
cases was the greatest in Birbhum. There are fewer outbreaks in the province
than last year.
Requests for temporary veterinary assistance were received from Birbhum,
Raniganj, Noakhali, Chittagong, Faridpur, Khulna, and Rangpur Jail, and
either a Veterinary Assistant or a senior student was sent to all these places:
except Faridpur and Khulna, as I had no one to send at the time. A few