VETERINARY SCHOOL), BURMA, FOR THE YEAR ENDED THE 31ST MARCH 1914.
The number of Veterinary Inspectors remained the same as at the beginning
of the year, viz., Lower Burma 5, Upper Burma 6.
The average number of days spent on tour by Veterinary Inspectors was
222 in Lower Burma and 226 6 in Upper Burma.
They attended 141 outbreaks in Lower Burma and 165 in Upper Burma.
Tables IV.
Veterinary Assistants during the year visited 11,955 villages in Lower Burma
and 10,720 in Upper Burma, the average number of days on tour being 224.6 in
Lower Burma and 224 09 in Upper Burma.
V.—EXPENDITURE OF THE DEPARTMENT.
(Vide Table XIV-A.)
VI.—GENERAL REMARKS.
14. Assistants required for Special Duty.—Although during the last few years
there has been a considerable augmentation of the subordinate staff, difficulty is
still experienced in obtaining Assistants for special work at short notice. Very
often many districts have to be asked before the loan of one man can be obtained
and much valuable time is lost and much harm done before help can be afforded.
For example, an Assistant was required by the Superintendent, Chin Hills, recently ;
six districts were asked to spare a man but only after a lapse of three weeks could
one be obtained from the Mandalay District, and then only when an Assistant had
returned from leave. There were 26 occasions during the year on which Assistants
were asked for and it was found impossible in most cases to meet the demands.
Experience seems to show that an Assistant in each township is needed so
that an adequate staff can be rapidly concentrated. Prompt co-operation between
districts would thereby be greatly facilitated. In addition, the leave difficulty which
at present exists would be reduced. As things are Deputy Commissioners cannot
afford to let men who are entitled to leave avail themselves of such without
a substitute being provided. This is in many cases impossible with the small
existing reserve, and so acute has the situation become that several Assistants
have asked that they might resign if leave could not be granted.
15. Importation of Disease.—Assistants
were as usual stationed on the
frontier in the Bhamo District during the caravan season. No disease is said to
have been brought in. With a larger staff as suggested above it would be possible
and of the greatest advantage to place men on the frontiers of the Kyauksè,
Amherst and Mergui Districts as well, on cattle inspection duty.
16. Segregation Rules.—The value of these rules seems to be firmly estab-
lished and they are reported to be generally appreciated and followed by headmen
and cattle owners. Traffic in hides seems to be largely the reason for attempts
to evade them. The Deputy Commissioner, Amherst, notes,—" Owing, however,
to the great temptation resulting from the very high prevailing prices, there is
reason to believe that some of the owners of the diseased cattle did not but by the
carcases, and that the spread of the disease was largely due to the trade in nides.
These were carried from place to place and finally to Moulmein by la nches
which also carry cattle to grazing grounds."
Permanent segregation camps were established in the principal villages of
certain districts, notably Pyapôn, Yamèthin and Mogôk, and are reported to have
demonstrated their value during outbreaks. The Deputy Commissioner, Pyapôn,
considers the main value in having a permanent site is in that it keeps the segre-
gation rules ever before the mind of the cattle owner and does away with the plea
of ignorance. He further remarks that it is not easy to find an unobjectionable
site in a thickly populated and cultivated tract at short notice and the less that
is left to the initiative of the thugyi and villagers the better. In Pegu a temporary
segregation shed was built at Pyinbongyi as an experiment, and the Deputy
Commissioner states "it was freely used and appreciated" and that "the
construction of at least two similar sheds in each township near selected large