NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Preface and General Administration.
Officer in charge, duration of tour, etc. .. ..
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PAGES.
1-2
Part I.—Veterinary Instruction.
Veterinary Instruction .. .. ..
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2
Part II.—Treatment of Diseases.
Contagious diseases in equines and bovines ..
Preventive inoculation .. .. ..
Treatment of diseases on tour .. .. ..
Veterinary hospitals and dispensaries .. ..
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2-3
3-4
4-5
5-6
Part III.—Breeding Operations.
Bovines—
Stud Bulls .. .. .. ..
Fairs and shows .. .. .. ..
Bull-breeding and rear ng farms and depots ..
Equines—
Horse and pony stallions .. .. ..
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6
6
6-7
7
Part IV.—Subordinate Staff.
Number .. .. .. ..
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7
Part V.—General Remarks.
General remarks .. .. .. ..
Table
II .. .. .. ..
„ III .. .. .. ..
„ IV .. .. .. ..
„ V .. .. .. ..
„ VII .. .. .. ..
„ VIII .. .. .. ..
„ IX .. .. .. ..
„ XIII .. .. .. ..
„ XIV .. .. .. ..
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7—9
ii-iii
iv-vi
vii-ix
x-xi
xii-xiv
xv
xvi-xvii
xix
xx-xxi
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CIVIL VETERINARY DEPARTMENT,
BENGAL, FOR THE YEAR 1925-26.
Preface and General Administration.
1. Charge.—I was in charge of the Department throughout the year
as Director and Veterinary Adviser to Government.
2. Tour.—I was on tour for 105 days and travelled 6,360 miles by
rail, 200 miles by road and 1,142 miles by steamer.
3. I undertook serum simultaneous inoculation of the cattle of the
St. Andrews' Homes at Kalimpong in two batches in April and June,
and undertook a similar inoculation of the cattle of the Manipur farm at
Dacca in November, and also supervised the inoculation by this method
of the farm cattle at Rangpur in February last.
Altogether 369 head of cattle including an Ayrshire bull were
protected with serum simultaneous method without any inoculation
fatality.
I attended the meeting of the Board of Agriculture held at Pusa in
December last.
In January I attended the Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition at
Faridpur, and delivered an address on the care, management and improve-
ment of cattle in Bengal.
I attended also the exhibitions at Krishnagar and Barasat and
inspected the cattle shows there.
I inspected the Veterinary Dispensaries at Siliguri, Rangpur, Darjee-
ling, Ghoom, Dacca, Krishnagar and Barasat, and advised the local
authorities regarding the expansion and improvement of Veterinary aid
in their districts.
I also acted as an examiner at the Annual and the Final Examina-
tions of the Bengal Veterinary College.
My tours had to be curtailed considerably as I had to reappropriate a
sum of Rs. 1,000 (one thousand) to meet the expenses of the necessary
touring of the Subordinate Inspecting Officers of this Department, whose
work was suffering for want of funds.
4. Rai Sahib Sarat Chandra Paul worked as Assistant Director,
Western Range, throughout the year, and spent 62 days on tour and
travelled 4,412 miles by rail and 17T miles by road. He inspected the
work of the Veterinary Assistant Surgeons at Dinajpur, Chinsura, Burd-
wan, Nilphamari, Jalpaiguri, Suri, Krishnagar, Rangpur, Cooch Behar,
Jessore, Murshidabad, Serampur, Asansol and Nator, and attended an
outbreak of Glanders at Burdwan and was in charge of the serum
simultaneous operations on the cattle of the Government Farm
at
Rangpur. He also attended the cattle shows at Rajshahi and Cooch
Behar and helped the judges in the selection and award of prizes to
the successful competitors. At the request of the Cooch Behar Durbar
he delivered a speech in vernacular on the care and general management
of cattle, cow-sheds, food and feeding and sileage, principles of breeding,
aging, etc. He also helped the Khulna Agricultural Exhibition Com-
mittee in the selection and purchase of cows and breeding goats.
2
5. Babu Nripendra Nath Majumdar held charge of the office of
Assistant Director, Eastern Range, Dacca, throughout the year, except
for 17 days in continuation of the Durga Puja holidays, when he went
on leave and Veterinary Inspector Babu K. C. Sen remained in charge
of the office in addition to his own duties.
Babu N. N. Majumdar toured for 76 days and travelled 1,539 miles
by rail, 1,281 miles by steamer and 426 miles by road. During his
tours he visited Barisal, Chittagong and Sarishabari twice each, and
Perojpur, Noakhali, Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Faridpur, Cos's Bazar,
Narainganj and Netrakona once each. In all the places he visited he
saw the Chairmen of the District Boards, wherever possible, and
impressed on them the necessity of increasing their Veterinary staff and
their breeding establishment as a means towards preserving and improv-
ing the local breed of cattle.
In addition to this work he attended in June a severe outbreak of
Hæmorrhagic Septicæmia in the interior of the district of Bakarganj
and spent about a fortnight in conducting and supervising inoculation
campaign. He was in charge of the serum simultaneous inoculation of
the farm cattle at Manipur in November and January last.
He accompanied me to the Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition at
Faridpur, and delivered lectures in Bengali regarding the improvement
of the breed of cattle. At the request of the exhibition authorities he
also read a paper on Co-operation in Agriculture (Dairy, Poultry, etc.,
by Rai Dr. Chuni Lal Bose Bahadur.
6. Veterinary Assistant Surgeons N. N. Banerji and N. P. Fernandez
remained on deputation to foreign service during the year under-report.
Veterinary Assistant Surgeon S. L. Sen was allowed further leave with-
out pay for one year to continue in the post of Veterinary Inspector,
Penang.
Part I—Veterinary Instruction.
7. Veterinary Assistant Surgeons and Inspectors carried on propa-
ganda work as usual, but as pointed out in the last year's report this
cannot be done efficiently until the staff is sufficiently increased. Camera
and lantern for preparation and exhibition of lantern slides were
purchased, and a staff is now required to be trained in their use. The
question of an increase of staff on this account is at present under the
consideration of Government.
Part II—Treatment of Diseases.
8. The total mortality of animals from contagious diseases during the
year was 33,224, as against 21,901 in the preceding year.
Table II
gives the figures for each district in detail.
The mortality was the
highest on record during the last quinquennium. Rinderpest accounted
for 74 per cent. of the deaths reported.
Equine Diseases.
9. Glanders appeared in the districts of Burdwan, Hooghly, Jalpai-
guri and Darjeeling. The loss under this head was 26 as against 16 in
the previous year. The disease was most severe in the district of
Darjeeling.
6
Compensation amounting to Rs. 155 was awarded in four cases of
compulsory destruction made under the provisions of the Act.
10. Anthrax.—Only four cases of deaths were reported from two
places, viz., Burdwan and Sodepur Pinjrapole.
In the outbreak at Burdwan two animals belonging to the Raj died.
49 animals were promptly inoculated with anti-anthrax serum and the
outbreak subsided.
11. Surra.—No cases were reported during the year.
12. Dourine.—No cases were reported during the year.
13. Other Diseases.—The mortality under this head was 24 as
against 9 in the year prevous. Of this number 12 were on account of
strangles in the district of Bakarganj.
Bovine Diseases.
14. Rinderpest was prevalent throughout the province and was
responsible for 24,695 deaths as against 19,088 in the previous year.
The districts which suffered most from this disease were Tippera, Dinaj-
pur, Dacca, Rangpur, Mymensingh and Pabna.
These six districts
claimed 52 per cent. of the total loss under this head. Extra assistance
was requisitioned from Pabna, Dinajpur and Rangpur to cope with the
heavy outbreaks in those districts. It is reported that 989 deaths in
the districts of Dacca and Mymensingh were due to restricted supply
of serum by those Boards (non-supply, short supply or late supply) for
which timely protection could not be given to the healthy animals of
the raiyats. In some places the villagers were reluctant to have protec-
tive inoculation for fear of fees being levied.
15. Foot and mouth disease caused 591 deaths in the province as
against 507 in the previous year. The mortality was the highest in the
Sodepur Pinjrapole, where 165 deaths occurred.
16. Hæmorrhagic Septicæmia.—The loss from this disease was 5,971
as against 1,546 in the preceding year. The outbreaks were most severe
in the districts of Bakarganj and Faridpur in which 3,175 animals are
reported to have succumbed to the disease.
17. Blackquarter appeared in the 8 districts of this Presidency. In
Birbhum the outbreak was widespread. Altogether 542 animals died,
of which 502 were in Birbhum alone.
18. Anthrax.—There were 210 deaths from it as against 217 in the
previous year.
19. Other Contagious Diseases.—As usual details are not available
and little reliance can be placed on the figures which show a great
increase being 759 as against 330 in the year previous.
20. Contagious diseases amongst other animals.—These mainly
include rabies and distemper in canines, contagious abortion in goats
and H. S. in cats. The total number of deaths reported was 402 as
against 180 in the preceding year.
Table III—Preventive Inoculation.
21. Table III gives details of the number of inoculations performed
during the year.
1
22. Nine hundred and sixty-six outbreaks in which inoculation was
undertaken were attended during the year under review and the total
number of animals inoculated was 173,762 as per details below as against
136,448 animals protected in 826 outbreaks in the year previous :—
Rinderpest (includes 369 animals
inoculated by the S-S. method)
Hæmorrhagic Septicæmia ..
Anthrax .. ..
Blackquarter .. ..
1925-26.
152,255
20,588
719
200
173,762
1924-25.
126,963
9,108
377
..
136,448
23. In addition to the above figures 1,334 animals were inoculated
in Calcutta and its suburbs by the staff of the Bengal Veterinary
College.
24. The number of deaths amongst the inoculated animals was 972
only or 05 per cent. of the total.
25. As compared with the figures for the last year, there has been
an increase in the number of inoculations but the work in this direction
would have progressed considerably had not the Department been handi-
capped by the action of the local authorities referred to in paragraph 14
of this report: Also numerous rails for extra help from the districts
could not be complied with, owing to the lack of Staff Veterinary Assis-
tant Surgeons. The District Boards have not sufficient staff, and there
is no emergency staff at headquarters to send to help them in time of
need. The restoration of the three posts of Staff Veterinary Assistant
Surgeons abolished on the recommendation of the Retrenchment Com-
mittee is at present under the consideration of Government. Year by
year evidence accumulates to prove that their retrenchment was a false
economy.
26. A sum of Rs. G8,788-4 was paid to the Imperial Bacteriologist
at Muktesar on account of cost of serum and vaccines during the year.
Table IV.
27. Table IV shows the work done in the mufassal by the Veterinary
Assistant Surgeons during the year.
28. Ninety-two men were at work in the interior, of whom 66 were
purely Itinerant and 26 Stationary Assistant Surgeons placed in charge
of dispensaries, who toured in the districts either at fixed periods or al
the time of outbreaks. Besides doing the inoculation work referred to
in paragraph 22 of this report these men visited 15,429 villages and
treated 100,830 cases against 15,022 and 94,894, respectively, in the
preceding year.
29. One important thing to be noticed in connection with this matter
is the increase that is taking place year after year in the number of
cases brought to the headquarters of the Itinerant Veterinary Assistant
Surgeons for treatment. This indicates, as pointed out in the last
year's report, a growing
demand for the establishment of regular
dispensaries for rendering veterinary aid to the raiyats, and it is hoped
local bodies will realize their responsibility in this direction and work up
to the sanctioned programme of a dispensary in each district and sub-
divisional headquarters with a Veterinary Assistant Surgeon in charge.
Table V.
30. Table V shows the working of the hospitals and dispensaries in
the province.
31. Two new dispensaries, one at Sarisabari and another at Cox's
Bazar, were opened during the year thus bringing the total number of
such institutions to 43.
32. The total number of cases treated during the year both as in
and outpatients were 51,025 and 11,988 cases were supplied
with
medicines as against 47,260 and 7,536 cases, respectively, in the previous
year.
33. The District Board of Midnapore constructed a dispensary with
quarters for the Veterinary Assistant Surgeon at Khargpur, near Tangra
Bazar, during the year.
34. An indoor patient shed was added to the Nilphamari Veterinary
dispensary in October last, at the cost of Moulvi Matiar Rahman
Chowdhuri of Sonarai in that district. The thanks of the department
are due to him for his liberality and public spirit.
35. The Tahsildar's bungalow at Alipur Duars was transferred by
Government to the Veterinary Department for the dispensary and
quarters of the Veterinary Assistant Surgeon there. It is expected that
the bungalow will be made over to this Department as soon as the new
quarters of the Tahsildar are ready.
3G. Provision has also been made for the construction of a permanent
dispensary and quarters for the Veterinary Assistant Surgeon at Matha-
bhanga in Cooch Behar. It is expected that the same will be finished
during the current year.
37. A double-storied building has already been hired by the District
Board of Rangpur for the dispensary and quarters of the Veterinary
Assistant Surgeon at Saidpur, sanction for the creation of which appoint-
ment was asked for at the close of the year.
38. Pending the construction of permanent veterinary dispensaries
at Kurigram and Mahimaganj, the District Board of Rangpur have made
contract with some private gentlemen for 10 years on hire to build the
dispensaries and quarters in those places. The work has already been
commenced at Kurigram. At Dimla, the District Board have however
decided to construct their own buildings.
39. The District Board of Darjeeling have also approved of the
appointment of a Stationary Veterinary Assistant Surgeon for Darjeeling,
and proposals for opening the post were submitted to Government on the
3rd March last.
40. The Local Board of Kalimpong have contributed a sum of
Rs. 200 to the D. H. S. P. C. A., for the improvement of the infirmary
there. An approach road from the main Pedong road to the infirmary
6
has also been constructed. It is desirable that the Board's Veterinary
dispensary with Assistant's quarters should be located in the infirmary,
as has been done at Kurseong.
41. A godown shed has also been added to the Ghoom Veterinary
dispensary during the year.
42. The buildings of the Dacca Veterinary dispensary, serum cellar
and hospital with Veterinary Assistant Surgeon's quarters were com-
pleted during the year. Owing to the inability of the Dacca Munici-
pality to give tap water connection, a well is being sunk and pump and
pipe connection with the dispensary and the Assistant Surgeon's
quarters has been provided for.
43. Acquisition of land for the Veterinary dispensary at Narainganj
is reported to be under the contemplation of the Dacca District Board.
44. The construction of a Veterinary hospital with quarters for the
Veterinary Assistant Surgeon at Tangail was taken up by the Mymensingh
Board during the year and the work is in progress.
45. The observation ward for rabid dogs in the Chittagong Veteri-
nary dispensary was completed in October last.
46. Improvement in the Noakhali Veterinary hospital by making
the floor pucca was made during the year.
47. The District Board of Faridpur have purchased a plot af land
at Madaripur for the construction of a Veterinary dispensary there,
and they have also taken lease of a plot of land at Gopalganj for the
same purpose.
Part III—Breeding Operations.
48. Table VIII shows the number of stud bulls maintained in the
province.
Of the total number of 149 bulls, 53 are the property of
Government, while 47 are maintained by District Boards, 41 by private
gentlemen and 8 by Sodepur Pinjrapole.
Fairs and Shows.
49. Tables XIII and XIV give particulars regarding the fairs and
shows held during the year.
50. All these fairs were attended by departmental officers who
helped in the judging of cattle and explained to the cattle-owners and
others the method and advantages of improving their stock, etc.
51. The mela proprietors in the Rangpur district have highly
appreciated the Veterinary work performed in their respective melas,
and as a result of their appreciation the proprietors of Panga and
Kochukata fairs have contributed Rs. 411-8 towards the improvement of
Veterinary aid in that district.
Bull Breeding and Rearing Farms.
52. Dacca Farm.—There was an epidemic of rinderpest amongst the
cattle on account of which one stud bull and two young calves died
prior to their inoculation by the serum simultaneous method.
Other
diseases took a toll of eight animals. The relatively high mortality
7
is clue to the higher susceptibility of the Scindh cattle. Serum-alone
method of inoculation stopped the outbreak. In December and January
serum simultaneous inoculation was given to all the cattle.
53. A few animals of the Tharparkar herd brought foot and mouth
disease, but it was detected in time and the whole herd kept under
strict segregation. There was no casualty from this disease.
54. Rangpur.—There was an outbreak of rinderpest but prompt and
timely measures saved the situation without the loss of a single animal.
After this outbreak there was an attack of foot and mouth in the herd.
All the cattle, specially the milch animals and the bulls, suffered
heavily but through proper care and treatment there was no loss of life.
One hundred and thirty animals were protected with serum simultaneous
inoculation with satisfactory results.
The usefulness of this inoculation was put to a practical test during
the outbreak of rinderpest mentioned above. Only half the animals
on the farm had been permanently protected by this method at the time
of outbreak and none of them contracted the disease.
Prompt and thorough application of the serum-alone method
prevented any deaths occurring among the remainder.
The serum-alone method properly applied is satisfactory and the best
in face of an outbreak.
Horse and Pony Stallion.
55. There was no horse or pony stallion in this province. Tables X,
XI and XII are therefore blank.
Part IV—Subordinate Staff.
56. Table VII shows the strength of the Veterinary staff employed
in the province during the year under report.
57. Three new posts of Veterinary Assistant Surgeons were opened
during the year: One at Garbetta in Midnapore, another at Bajitpur
in Mymensingh and the third at Shahzadpur in Pabna.
58. Sanction was also accorded to the deputation of a third Veteri-
nary Assistant Surgeon for the Cooch Behar State for a period of three
years, and the entertainment of a substitute in his place.
59. Towards the close of the year Government were addressed for
the creation of the post of Itinerant Assistant Surgeon at Saidpur in
the Rangpur district provisionally for one year with effect from the 1st
April 1926.
60. Sanction was also asked for at the same time for the creation of
the post of Stationary "Veterinary Assistant Surgeon at Darjeeling.
Part V—General Remarks.
61. Serum.—This has been a bad year for contagious disease and
the restricted supply of serum for inoculation work has been felt more
acutely as a result.
8
62. Shortage Of Staff.—Both in the districts and head-quarters has
been a great handicap to the work. As foreshadowed in my last report,
schemes to rectify this were submitted to Government during the year
under report and were still under consideration at the close of the year.
These schemes are in connection with serum supply, reorganisation of the
Department and for increase of staff. It is hoped that some of these
measures will be sanctioned during the current year.
63. Rangpur.—This district calls for special mention for the pro-
gress it has made in Veterinary work in the last few years.
In the
year under report three new dispensaries were arranged for at Kurigram,
Mohimaganj and Dimla.
There are now seven dispensaries in the
district in addition to a hospital at the district headquarters. This pro-
gress is due to the keen interest in Veterinary work taken by the Chair-
man, Rai S. C. Chatterji Bahadur, who in addition to influencing the
local people has stimulated and encouraged his Veterinary staff to work
to their utmost.
Veterinary Assistant Surgeons H. K. Bose and C. C.
Das Gupta deserve special praise for their efforts to get the new dis-
pensaries opened. It is particularly encouraging to hear that the Rai
Bahadur has been re-elected and to know that his continued interest and
support can be relied upon.
64. Assistant Directors.—Rai Sahib S. C. Paul and Babu N. N.
Majumdar have both worked loyally and well throughout the year.
In January last Government were pleased to reward the former's
long and meritorious service by the award of the title of Rai Sahib.
This honour was well-deserved and the recognition of the services of
one of the most senior Provincial officers is much appreciated and is a
great encouragement to the members of the Civil Veterinary Depart-
ment in Bengal.
65. Veterinary Inspectors.—All worked well though under difficul-
ties, as they had frequently to curtail their ordinary work to act as Staff
Veterinary Assistant Surgeons in emergencies. Their work was further
handicapped owing to shortage of funds to meet their touring expenses.
66. Veterinary Assistant Surgeons.—With few exceptions these
men have worked well. They have been frequently discouraged in their
efforts owing to shortage or non-supply of serum when the owners were
willing to have their animals inoculated. The following are mentioned
for exceptionally good work : —
WESTERN RANGE.
Stationary.
1. Babu K. N. Ghosh, Chinsura.
2. Babu B. N. Nandi, Jalpaiguri.
Itinerant.
1. Babu K. C. Gupta, Dinajpur.
2. Babu S. C. Roy, Pabna.
3. Babu S. N. Chakravarty, Balurghat.
4. Babu H. K. Bose, Nilphamari.
9
Staff Veterinary Assistant
Surgeon.
Babu J. N. Chakravarty, Calcutta.
Reserve Veterinary Assistant
Surgeon.
Babu K. B. De, Calcutta.
EASTERN RANGE.
1. Babu B. K. Shaw, Stationary Veterinary Assistant Surgeon,
Chittagong.
2. Babu H. C. Das Gupta, Stationary Veterinary Assistant
Surgeon, Dacca.
3. Moulvi A. Latif, Stationary Veterinary Assistant Surgeon,
Noakhali.
4. Babu W. C. Bhadra, Itinerant Veterinary Assistant Surgeon,
Bralimanberia.
67. Office.—The ministerial staff worked hard throughout the
year. The Head Assistant Babu J. C. Ghosh and Accountant Babu K.
C. Mitter deserve special mention. The work of this office has increased
considerably in recent years due, in part, to the expansion of the Depart-
ment and to increased correspondence with District Boards now that
they are controlled by non-official Chairmen, and also to the fact that
the work of the Veterinary Adviser is now done in this office.
The
bulk of this extra work falls on these two men.
Proposals for an
increase of their salary have been submitted to Government and it is
hoped they will receive sympathetic consideration.
P. J. KERR, I.V.S.,
Director, Civil Veterinary
Department,
and
Veterinary Adviser to the Government of Bengal.
CALCUTTA :
The 30th June 1926.