No. 2486, REVENUE, 19TH AUGUST 1912.
21
Resolution—No. 397, dated 30th July 1912.
The Board begs to submit to Government the reports of the Superintendent,
Civil Veterinary Department, and the Principal, Madras Veterinary College,
on the work of the executive and the educational branches of the Civil Veterinary
Department, respectively, for the year 1911-1912.
2. Staff.—Mr. Aitchison continued to be in charge of the college, and Mr.
Ware held the office of Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, throughout the
year. Touring and inspection by the Superintendent were satisfactory. Veterinary
Inspector, M.R.Ry. V. P. Subramania Mudaliar was appointed Deputy Superintendent
on probation for a year. He has been subsequently confirmed.
3. The Madras Veterinary College.—The total strength of the college in all the
three classes in the year under review was 51. Out of the 19 students who were
studying in the final year class, 17 presented themselves for examination and
13 graduated. The percentages of successful candidates in all the three classes were
markedly higher than those of the previous year, the figures being 75, 78.9 and
76.4 in classes A, B& C against 66.6, 72.7 and 55.6 in 1910-1911. The Board
notes with pleasure that a large number of Matriculates and "satisfactory school final
certificate-holders" sought admission into the college in January 1912, with the result
that class A as it stood at the end of March 1912 contained, among others, 14
Matriculates and eight school final certificate-holders. Mr. Aitchison surmises that
the increase in the number of passed candidates for admission was probably due to an
impression that the scale of pay of the posts in the Veterinary Department was being
revised, but the Board is inclined to consider that this must have been largely due
to the increased number of scholarships sanctioned by Government in November
1911.
4 Veterinary hospitals.—There was no increase in the number of hospitals at
work during the year, nor was there any change in their management. From the
figures furnished, the Board observes that good work was done at the hos-
pitals at Trichinopoly, Bellary, Pithapuram, Cocanada and Tanjore, while the
work turned out at the Berhampur, Ongole, Sivaganga and Vellore hospitals
was poor. The Board recently sanctioned the writing off of fees improperly levied
for the treatment of patients at the Saidapet hospital, and the Superintendent now
reports that similar collections were made at the Vellore and Berhampur hospitals.
The Board hopes that the discontinuance of the charge which has been suggested to
the District Boards concerned will tend to make the hospitals more popular. The
tendency to slackness on the part of some of the veterinary assistants posted to the
charge of hospitals, which the Superintendent brings to notice, should be rigorously
repressed. They should be sent back to touring work, if necessary.
5. Diseases.—There was a considerable fall in the number of cases of cattle
mortality due to rinderpest, the number in 1911-12 being 10,572 against 24,435 in
the previous year. The Superintendent thinks that this decline is to some extent
attributable to the early presence of veterinary assistants at the seats of outbreaks
and to the preventive measures adopted by them. With regard to anthrax, the
results of the Superintendent's endeavour to confirm the number of deaths reported
from the disease by microscopical examination of specimens proved inconclusive, and
he has been requested to make special enquiries, with a view to testing the accuracy
of the number of cases of this disease reported by village officers.
6. Subordinate establishment.—Including the four veterinary assistants, who
resigned their appointments in the course of the year, there were three veterinary
inspectors and 63 veterinary assistants employed during the year, of whom 45 were
itinerating assistants. Nine veterinary assistants were newly appointed during
the year, the number including seven graduates of the Madras Veterinary College.
Four veterinary assistants resigned their appointments. Thirteen thousand and fifty-
eight head of cattle were inoculated against rinderpest during the year under report,
while the number in the previous year was 21,080. As observed by the Board in its
review of the report for 1910-11, the decrease is doubtless connected with the decline
in the disease. In reviewing the monthly statements of inoculation, the Board had
frequently drawn the attention of the Superintendent to the absence or inadequacy
2486 R.—6