2
end of the year he held the office of Deputy Superintendent, Southern Circle, with
headquarters at Madras. During the year he spent 204 days on tour, travelled
7,253 miles by rail, and 1,569 by road.
4. M.R.Ry. R. Narasinga Rao Avargal, on return from taking a post-graduate
course at the Lahore Veterinary College, was posted as Deputy Superintendent,
Northern circle, with headquarters at Bezwada, on probation for one year. He took
charge on 1st August 1917 and remained in office until the close of the year.
While in charge of this office he was on tour for 154 days, travelled 3,056 miles
by rail, 489 by road and 297 by boat.
The touring and inspection work of both these officers was satisfactory, but their
charges have now become too large to be controlled efficiently. Proposals for
increasing the number of circles have been sanctioned by Government.
II.—EXECUTIVE STAFF.
5. On 3lst March 1918 there were 12 Inspectors and 113 Assistants on the
rolls of this department as against 10 Inspectors and 105 Assistants the previous
year.
Sixteen new graduates were appointed on 1st March 1918 and there were six
casualties during the year. One Assistant died, one was invalided, one resigned at
his own request, and the services of three others were dispensed with.
(a) Veterinary Inspectors,
6. Of the 12 Inspectors in the department 8 of them were in charge of a Range of
Assistants, 1 was employed at the Cattle Quarantine Depot, Tuticorin, A. J. Wilson
remained seconded to the Agricultural Department as Veterinary Lecturer at the
Coimbatore College, A. M. Richards was employed under the Glanders and Farcy
Act in Madras City, and W. J. D'Costa remained on military duty with the
Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force.
7. Of the Inspectors in charge of Ranges only K. Kailasam Ayyar deserves to be
mentioned for good all-round work.
The others appear to have forgotten that their duties are executive as well as
administrative although it must be conceded that some of them, owing to an increase
in the number of Assistants in the range, had a large amount of administrative work
to get through.
As the proposal recently submitted to Government for the creation of two more
Inspectors' ranges has been sanctioned, each Inspector should be able to devote more
time to executive work, during the current year.
(b) Veterinary Assistants.
8. As will be seen from Table VII the majority of the Assistants of this depart-
ment are employed either in hospitals and dispensaries or on touring work, so their
work will be described under these two heads.
(i) At hospitals and dispensaries.
9. By the opening of new dispensaries at Palghat and Kumbakonam the total
number of these institutions was raised during the year to 39, excluding the Madras
Veterinary College hospital.
In Table V attached to this report these institutions, under their two heads of
hospitals and dispensaries, have been arranged in order of merit, i.e., the institution
which attracted the greatest number of new cases during the year has been placed
as No. 1.
10. As it was not possible to obtain correct figures for the whole of the past year
the revised form of Table V, showing separately castrations performed at hospitals
and cases for which medicine was given but which were not brought to the hospital,
as circulated by the Government of India with their order No. 1061-36, dated 21st
September 1917, is not being submitted with the present report but arrangements
have been made to do so next year.
11. The number of castrations performed at hospitals and dispensaries during
the past year was 1,439 as compared with 816 in 1916-17.