150
"I would further recommend that a declaration in writing should be taken from every shipper entering
any port in India from Australia, before he is allowed to land a single horse, to the effect that none of his
shipment have been brought from the area which it may be deemed advisable to declare as infected. A very
heavy penalty should be imposed on any person proved to have made a false declaration.
" I do not think that the question of hides need be considered, as I am not aware that these articles are
ever imported into this country from Australia.
"I have attempted to limit my recommendations as much as possible, so that the Horse Trade, now existing
between Australia and this country, may be interfered with as little as possible; but, bearing in mind the
ravages committed by this disease, I feel that I would be failing in my duty were I to advocate any measures of
lesser severity than those enumerated above; for even should the disease exist in this country, as I have hinted
before, still it does not exist in any widespread form, and we are incurring the gravest responsibility if we
allow of its introduction into this country in the face of the fact that the various Colonies of Australia have
imposed the most stringent Quarantine Regulations against each other."
Punjab.
735. Information collected.—Veterinary Captain Gunn, Assistant to the
Inspector General, Civil Veterinary Department, reports as follows:—
In November 1896 a tour was commenced in the districts of Ludhiana,
Ferozepur, Lahore, Amritsar, and Jallandhar with a view to obtaining informa-
tion regarding the various ailments of live-stock, with particular regard to
serious contagious disease, and the relative prevalence of each in the various
districts. Veterinary Assistants who were attached to each Teshil afforded
a certain amount of help and some information was obtained from the zemin-
dars of the villages which were passed during the tour. But all this was
vague and only approximate. Apparently no registers of cattle mortality are
kept. During the past year permission was obtained from the District Boards
and Local authorities through the Local Government for the Assistant to the
Inspector General to correspond direct with the Veterinary Assistants. A
scheme for reporting the prevalence and occurrence of the more serious con-
tagious diseases in every village, in every district of the Punjab, and to a cer-
tain extent in the North-Western Provinces, has now inaugurated, and a con-
siderable portion of these provinces have been surveyed. The information
gleaned is no doubt crude, but as a beginning it may be said to be satisfactory,
and will form the basis of more thorough enquiry.
Under the head of Equine Diseases (page 94, para. 520) will be found a
short report on Surra with a tabulated statement of the various outbreaks which
have occurred during the past year, also the number of deaths. The statement,
likewise, shows the number of equines in the village before the disease showed
itself.
Central Pro-
vinces.
736. During the year under review, I was able to visit the Central Prov-
inces and Berar, and had interviews with the Chief Commissioner at Nagpur
and the Director of Land Records and Agriculture, Hyderabad Assigned
Districts, at Akola. During these interviews I was able to discuss a number
of points which will, I trust, lead to the development of work lately com-
menced by the Department in these Provinces.
It will be remembered that when a second Officer was appointed to the
Bombay Veterinary College, it was decided that the appointment of Superin-
tendent, Civil Veterinary Department, Central Provinces and Berar, should
be abolished, but that the post should be held by one of the furlough reserve
Officers when his services were not required elsewhere. For some time this
dual appointment was held by Veterinary Captain Short, its working was pro-
ductive of no good results; it has therefore been decided to confine the duties
of the officer of the Department so employed to one Province, and on 9th
February 1896, Veterinary Lieutenant Trydell joined at Nagpur for duty.
On my visit, I found that one Veterinary Assistant was in charge of the
dispensary at Nagpur with a Salutri under him, and that at Wardha another
dispensary was proposed to be started; the pay of the Veterinary Assistant was
proposed at Rs. 30 per mensem. No really good man from Lahore could be
induced to accept these terms. I therefore proposed to the Chief Commis-
sioner that as experience showed that Veterinary Assistants would only, as a
rule, accept service at a distance from their homes, whilst they are actually
out of employment, I considered it to be advisable to send two local men, every
second year, either to Ajmere or Lahore, to be trained, and that if possible
these men should be recruited from the agricultural classes. This has been
sanctioned, and I feel convinced that the adoption of the system of training
local men will lead to most beneficial results.