10
REPORT ON THE CIVIL VETERINARY DEPARTMENT (INCLUDING THE 1NSEIN
the Deputy Commissioner remarks that these were promptly dealt with by the
Veterinary Assistants.
The Subdivisional Officer, Salin, Minbu District,
observes that " in the Sidôktaya Township in particular there is much greater
realization on the part of headmen of the advantages of isolation and
segregation."
There is however no denying the fact that in most of the
districts the headmen and the people begin to take steps when it is too late, and
then the measures taken are only half-hearted. The Deputy Commissioner,
Pakôkku, remarks that " although the Subdivisional Officers report that the
headmen understand the rules, I am not at all persuaded that the headmen do
their work properly in this district, and that the villagers take care to obey the
rules. In many cases villagers have been found to leave their animals unburied
and to have sold the flesh and the headman has done nothing at all. According
to one of my Township Officers, the villagers take measures for the prevention
of rinderpest, but as soon as a single case has occurred they prefer to have the
disease run through the village-tract rather than do any more. The worst
offenders as regards the neglect of the rules are frequently the headmen them-
selves and I have had to warn or fine a number of headmen for their conduct, and
in one case I have had to dismiss a thugyi whose previous record was bad.
Some headmen, on the other hand, are particularly useful, but I think the indifferent
headmen are in the majority and the rules themselves are not fully under-
stood." Several of the headmen and villagers had to be fined in the Thayetmyo,
Kyauksè, Myingyan, Minbu, Lower Chindwin and Pyapôn Districts and some
headmen warned and villagers fined in Toungoo District. In Lower Chindwin
and Thayetmyo Districts, one headmen had to be removed in each for
neglect of the rules while in Minbu District " it was found necessary to send
several gross offenders (villagers) to jail. In the Bhamo District owing to the
continued recurrence of Haemorrhagic Septicaemia among pigs in the Mole and
Taping Kayaings, pigs were notified to be cattle and the disease a contagious
one for the purpose of rule 2(1) and 4 of the Cattle Disease Rules, 1914.
An examination in connection with the rules was held in the Kyauksè
District in October under the supervision of the Deputy Superintendent,
Meiktila ; 23 candidates appeared for the examination, 11 of these were headmen,
2 sons of headmen and 10 cultivators. Fourteen of these candidates passed.
Another examination was held at Meiktila under the supervision of the Veterinary
Inspector when 8 candidates appeared and 6 passed ; 6 men were cultivators and
2 thugyis' sons.
The Subdivisional Officer, Taungdwirgyi, suggests as an improvement on the
rules that hide-traders be expressly forbidden to enter infected villages.
19. Veterinary Inspectors and Assistants.— Considering the many possibilities
for friction produced by the apathetic attitude, if not actual hostility, of many
headmen and villagers during times of severe outbreaks, owing to the many
restrictions and inconveniences they have to suffer during enforcement of the
rules, plus the chagrin and disappointment which must be theirs by reason of
heavy losses amongst their cattle, it is pleasing to be able to say that the rela-
tions between the Veterinary Inspectors and Assistants on the one hand and
headmen and villagers on the other continue to remain cordial. This speaks not
a little for the tact exercised by the veterinary staff in enforcing the very neces-
sary regulations for prevention of diseases and its spread, and would seem to
show that their efforts are appreciated by the people at large. That the men are
required to be out at all times of the year, and that their work in a year like the
one we have passed through must necessarily be harder than usual cannot be
denied, and 1 have very great pleasure in having to record that only a single
case of anything like serious neglect or dereliction of duty, has been brought to
notice during the year. In fact the district officers have nothing but praise for
these men, and I may be pardoned for quoting a few remarks made by Deputy
Commissioners.
Deputy Commissioner, Upper Chindwin, remarks that " the Veterinary
Assistants toured incessantly in endeavouring to check the progress of rinderpest
which was and is still prevailing. They have done a good year's work under
difficult conditions."