21
less severely than in the previous year. In G.O. No. 1278, Development, dated
25th September 1922, the Chief Superintendent was asked to report what special
steps should be taken to combat contagious diseases on a more effective scale in
these and other districts which are badly affected every year. The three measures
he suggested were the prompt reporting of disease by village officers, the strengthen-
ing of the itinerating staff of the department and the provision of a peon for each
itinerating officer. The Government are glad to see that the work of village officers
in regard to the reporting of cattle disease has given much less cause for complaint
than in previous years and trust that the improvement will be maintained. As
stated in paragraph 2 above, the touring staff was strengthened during the year by
the addition of six veterinary assistants. Further additions can only be made as
funds permit. The need for providing peons for touring assistants has been accepted
by Government, and permanent peons have been sanctioned for 34 of them whilst for
the remainder the employment of local men for particular duties whenever necessary
has been authorized.
5. The assistants in charge of veterinary institutions performed 2,643 castrations
and treated 78,234 cases during the year, the corresponding figures for the previous
year being 2,617 and 72,969. The figures would have been even better had it not
been for a marked fall in the work done in fifteen institutions. The Government
agree with the Chief Superintendent that the popularity and usefulness of a veteri-
nary institution depend upon the personality of the officer in charge of it more than
on anything else and would point out that it is for the superior officers of the
department to take suitable action to keep the personal element up to the mark.
The number of cases supplied with medicine but not brought to veterinary
institutions fell by nearly 50 per cent. The Chief Superintendent has not commented
on this and the Government would be glad to know if there was any special reason
for it.
In G.O. No. 287, L. & M., dated 31st January 1923, it was suggested that,
in order to remove the hardship caused by the levy of daily tolls on unladen sick
animals which have to pass through local fund and municipal toll gates to attend
veterinary institutions for treatment, district boards and municipal councils should
sanction the exemption of persons bringing animals for treatment at veterinary
institutions as a class from payment of tolls. The Government regret to observe
that this suggestion has so far only been acted on by the district boards of Madura
and Malabar and would again express the hope that district boards and municipal
councils will see their way to adopt this method of removing difficulties in the way
of such animals being treated at veterinary institutions.
6. The work of the itinerating staff during 1922-23 compares as follows with
that of the last five years :—
—
2. Contagious cases treated ..
3. Non-contagious cases treated ..
4. Castrations .. .. .. ..
1917-18.
110,772
11,546
11,013
3,034
1918-19.
131,871
13,044
14,492
4,816
1919-20.
90,614
15,676
16,979
6,768
1920-21.
68,686
13,405
21,163
6,319
1921-22.
70,815
18,119
24,718
6,809
1922-23.
29,946
19,685
26,693
5,641
The number of contagious and non-contagiou9 diseases treated continues steadily to
rise. There was a decrease in the number of castrations and a very heavy fall in
the number of inoculations. The Chief Superintendent attributes the latter partly
to the levy of a fee of eight annas which, it should be mentioned, represents only a
small part of the cost of the operation and allows the owner of the animal to have it
reinoculated as many times as is necessary for a period of six months to ensure its
protection. The Government are of opinion that the levy of a fee has not yet been
in force sufficiently long to enable its effect on the number of inoculations to be
properly gauged especially in view of the decreased prevalence of rinderpest which
renders the necessity for protection less apparent.
The number of animals inoculated by the more complex but also more effective
method known as the serum-simultaneous method nearly doubled but is still small.
The question of opening a laboratory in South India for the preparation of serum has
had to be postponed on financial grounds and owing to the difficulty and expense
involved in obtaining virus from Muktesar no great extension of this method of
inoculation can be expected.