2.'
followed by a year's preliminary training in a hospital or dispensary, I have had
to notice the inferior qualifications of the pupils sent to join the school, and to
dismiss many before the end of their first session.
From the first, I expressed an opinion adverse to this system; but for the
l ast t hree or four years I have ceased t o urge i t , bei ng unwi l l i ng t o seem t o offer
opposition to a measure sanctioned by the highest authority.
Each year, however, it has become more and more evident to me that the,
necessity of passing a preliminary year at a dispensary, on small pay, and with-
out opportunities of study, deters educated and energetic young men from enter-
ing the service, while it holds out encouragement to the idle and worthless.
I may I trust be permitted to bring forward again my views on this subject,
as I find I do not stand alone in them. I find it stated in the Parliamentary
Report on Sanitary measures in India in 1874-75, that the Inspector General of
Hospitals and Dispensaries in the North-West Provinces considers "that the
" p l a n o f s u b s t i t u t i n g a y e a r ' s r e s i d e n c e a t a C i v i l h o s p i t a l , f o r a y e a r ' s s t u d y a t
"a Medical school, has proved a mistake. In the majority of cases, the lads
"learn little or nothing, and fall into idle habits, only beginning their studies
" w h e n t h e y j o i n t h e s c h o o l , a f t e r a y e a r o f t h e w o r s t p o s s i b l e p r e p a r a t i o n . I t
"is not to be wondered at, that of about 50 students who annually join the
" M e d i c a l S c h o o l o f A g r a , o n l y 1 6 o r 1 8 e v e r r e m a i n t o c o m p l e t e t h e c u r r i c u l u m
" o f t h r e e y e a r s ' s t u d y , a n d o f t h e s e v e r y f e w k n o w a n y E n g l i s h . "
6. Under the old system, an advertisement in the Central Provinces'
Gazette never failed to attract a number of young men of fair, and sometimes of
superior, education.
T The Principal and Teachers of the school were able to judge of the educa-
tional receptivity of the candidates, and being responsible, as selecting officers,
took care to admit only such as seemed generally likely to succeed. The students
at once admitted to the school entered upon their work with keenness and
alacrity. Rejection for incapacity before the end of the course was rare. The
amount of knowledge displayed at the final examination was often surprising,
and the general character of the passed students gained for the school, during the
first year's of its existence, the high commendation of the Surgeon General.
7. Students are now selected by a Military Committee, which performs its
duty when it puts the candidates to the prescribed test in simple reading, writing
and arithmetic, Beyond their examination, the Committee has no interest in
t h e m ; m o s t o f t h e m t h e n p a s s t h e p r e l i m i n a r y y e a r a t a d i s p e n s a r y i n c o m p a r -
ative idleness, and enter the school, demoralised and unfitted for work. To this
state of things must be attributed the unsatisfactory results I have this year . to
report.
8.
It is perhaps well that on this occasion other testimony is available as
to the worthlessness of a large proportion of the last set of pupils.
I find from the recorded results of a test examination held in October last
by Surgeon Major John Brake, who officiated as Principal of the School during
my absence, that the progress and attainments of the new students after three
months' 'attendance at the school were found to be very unsatisfactory, so much
so, that out of 30, he was compelled to recommend the dismissal of 11. The
results of my own examinations just completed, prove . that this measure, severe
as it may seem, was really too lenient, and that the painful duty of recommend-
-ing further dismissal remains to me.