156
The working of the Superintendent of this Province has hitherto not been
as satisfactory as it might have been; this was, however, mainly due to the
fact that his duties had not been clearly defined. I was therefore asked by the
Board of Revenue to prepare a scheme for the better working of the Depart-
ment in that Presidency, and in doing so, I laid down the various duties of
the Superintendent for the whole year, which, if followed, will lead to at least
six months every year being spent in camp.
I then attempted to give an outline of the work which should be expected
of the Superintendent, and as it may prove of value to other Provinces that
are interested in cattle, I give the following extract from my letter to the
Board of Revenue:—
"One of the first duties of the Superintendent is to make himself acquainted with the Presidency and the
District Officers generally. I would therefore propose that he should be deputed to visit every large cattle
fair in Madras, and that he should discuss with the local authorities the advisability of putting Act II of
1866 into force, as I would be glad to see this Act extended to every large fair held in the Presidency, but
when so extended, I consider that the Superintendent should be present as frequently as possible to ensure its
proper working, especially with reference to hospital pounds.
"I now approach the duties which this Officer should perform in connection with the Bacteriological Sur-
vey. As far as I could see during my visit to Madras, he appears to think that this duty should be carried
out by the Stock Inspectors, but I would recommend it to be laid down that it is his duty during the months
he is in camp to so train the Stock Inspectors by carrying out the survey himself, and showing them what
is required that they will be better able to carry it on when he is not in camp. His duties when in camp
would be :—
" (i)—To supervise and direct, so long as he is touring in the district, the work done by the Stock
Inspectors.
" (ii)—To continue his tour steadily visiting village by village and collecting information with reference
to cattle disease; whilst doing this he would make himself acquainted with the various breeds
of cattle, ascertaining whether the supply of bulls is sufficient for the cows kept, whether any
bulls have been imported, and if so, with what result. It is of course impossible to enter into
details with reference to duties connected with either the survey or cattle breeding; this must
be left greatly to the Superintendent himself, but as a rough guide he would be obtaining much
useful information if he obtained the following:—
" (a)—To obtain an approximate idea of the diseases known to the people; this necessitates
a village to village inspection, and in connection with this, it is absolutely necessary
that the Superintendent should be able to converse with the people; if therefore
Veterinary Lieutenant Clarke intends to remain in the Presidency, he must endea-
vour to learn the language sufficiently well to be able to understand the people and
to make himself understood.
"(b)—To ascertain what the diseases known to the people really are.
"(c)—To ascertain the extent to which they exist.
"(d)—To ascertain whether it is possible in any way to do anything in the way of limiting
them.
"It is next to impossible to lay down every detail, but if the Superintendent carefully reads the reports
that are published, and with which he is supplied, he will soon learn what is expected of him. I would draw
his attention to the Agricultural Ledger on 'Selections from the report of the Cattle Plague Commission,
and especially to the remarks contained in the Annual Administration Report of this Department for 1895-96,
pages 121, etc., the Volumes of reports on Bacteriological Survey which is being carried out in the Punjab by
the Assistant to Inspector General, Civil Veterinary Department; this is what is wanted, and what the
Superintendent should do."
The Board of Revenue supported my proposals for the employment of
the subordinate staff, as well as my recommendations regarding the manner
in which the Superintendent should occupy himself, and I now trust that the
working of the Department in Madras will be more satisfactory than it has
hitherto been.
Bengal.
743. The Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, Bengal, has been
unable to obtain many reports of cattle disease. He states in his Annual
Report:—
"I give below a synopsis of transactions in connection with cattle diseases
during the year under review; but it is open to serious doubt if the figures are
even approximately correct.
"In studying this synopsis it will be noticed that Circular No. 4 Agricul-
ture, dated 6th February 1895, of the Bengal Revenue Department, is not inter-
preted by all officers in the same way. It is perhaps more correct to say that
the opinions of officers differ as to what is not serious disease, for it will be seen
that of 34 records in the synopsis 21 were reported in the Calcutta Gazette
in the first instance, and applications had to be made from this office for
information which in two or three cases remained unanswered.
"I was able, except in one instance, to offer the services of a Veterinary
Assistant whenever they appeared to be required.