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District Officers. The reports continue to show that they are accurately kept up,
the only irregularity of more than very rare occurrence, which has been recorded
being the failure of the police patrols to remove the counterfoils at the prescribed
intervals.
934. Attention has been paid to the system under which outbreaks of
disease are reported, and I am pleased to note that this system has improved greatly.
Formerly, an outbreak was at an end before a report of its existence reached the
Superintendent, but even in cases where orders exist on the subject, they are not
always carried out. Take for example Bengal where orders exist to the effect that
the occurrence of serious or epidemic disease among cattle should be reported direct
and, if necessary, by telegram to the Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department.
We learn from the Government Resolution on the Superintendent's Annual Report
that in many cases that Officer derived his first information of an outbreak of
disease from a perusal of the Weather and Crop reports in the Calcutta Gazette.
Improvement is noticeable in this direction in many Provinces.
VETERINARY DISPENSARIES.
935. Feeling that no more certain way of gaining the confidence of the
people existed than by starting dispensaries at which cases of ordinary disease and
surgical operations can be performed, I addressed the Director of Land Records
and Agriculture, North-Western Provinces and Oudh, pointing out the good that
is done at these institutions, and also showing that, pending the appointment of a
Special Veterinary Officer whose duties will be solely those connected with cattle
and the supervision of the Subordinate Veterinary Staff, a great point would be
gained by concentrating the work which would ensure more supervision of the
Veterinary Assistants being exercised by the Officers at present in charge.
Noting on this in his Annual Report, the Director of Land Records and
Agriculture, North-Western Provinces and Oudh, states:—
The only public Veterinary Dispensary in the Province is the one attached to the Experimental Farm at
Cawnpore, and an effort is being made to establish one at the Meernt Demonstration Farm; but there is no immediate
prospect of any further development. At the suggestion of the Inspector-General, Civil Veterinary Department, I
am also corresponding with certain District Officers in these Provinces as to the advisability of establishing Veterinary
Dispensaries in their respective districts, and the result will be communicated to Government in due course.
936. I trust that the reference made to District Officers will be the means
of starting some of these most useful institutions in the North-Western Provinces.
937. Although the Punjab is greatly in advance of the North-Western
Provinces, having nine Veterinary Dispensaries, still, it must be borne in mind
that a large number of Veterinary Assistants are employed in that Province; there
is, therefore, room for more Dispensaries, and although I recognized that District
Boards were crippled for want of funds, still, I addressed the Director of Land
Records and Agriculture, Punjab, hoping that when the financial pressure was
removed, other districts would follow the example of those in which dispensaries
have been started.
938. Referring to this in his review of the Provincial Report of the Civil
Veterinary Department, the Director of Land Records and Agriculture, Punjab,
states:—
The present is not a very suitable time to call upon District Boards which have not yet established these
dispensaries to start them, but. this should certainly be kept in view and given effect to as finances allow. The scheme
has now been tested in several districts and been found to yield most hopeful results. There is no better way of
utilising the services of the District Board Veterinary Assistants who are put in charge of the dispensary in rotation
and thus kept up to their work. Moreover, when the work is thus concentrated, it can be more easily supervised by the
Veterinary Superintendents even with the present meagre staff, and by the third Superintendent when his services
are obtained. Efforts are now being made to establish dispensaries in those districts of the North Punjab which
have a strong Veterinary Establishment, and it is to be hoped that as the prejudices of the people against the treatment
in our medical dispensaries have been gradually overcome by the good results of that treatment being brought home
to them, in the same way the Veterinary Dispensaries will become both popular and useful, as they already are in
some districts.
939. In January 1897, when the proposal to dismiss 6 Stock Inspectors was
put forward by the Madras Government, I addressed the Secretary to the Com-
missioner of Revenue Settlements, Land Records and Agriculture, as follows:—
I know of no institutions that can be worked so economically as these, or that confer such benefits on the ryots,
but one of the main points to be gained is, that by their being established the confidence of the people in the
Veterinary Assistants is easily gained. The cost need be but trifling; in nearly every large town a Government
building exists which could be made to afford suitable accommodation at trifling expense. A few simple instruments
would be required, and as the animals to be treated would be mainly cattle, the cost of medicines would not be great.
Should the Government of Madras be pleased to sanction this proposal, I would be glad to draw up a scale of instru-
ments and medicines, showing the initial cost and annual expenditure necessary for the upkeep of these institutions.
These dispensaries should be started first in large centres, but the local authorities would be better able to advise as
to the best places in which a commencement might be made, All animals, the property of ryots, should be treated