8
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE CIVIL VETERINARY DEPARTMENT, BURMA,
(4) Fairs and Shows.
Table XIV.
14. As was the case last year, only one Show was held, viz., at Bhamo. The
buffaloes were, as is usual at this Show, excellent and the entries were more
numerous than last year and slightly in excess of the year previous, being 172
as against 55 last year. There is nothing worthy of notice amongst the exhibits in
the other classes excepting a few young bulls. The total entries at the
Show showed an improvement on last year, the numbers being 383 this year
as compared with 194 last year.
IV.—SUBORDINATE ESTABLISHMENT.
Table VII.
15. At the close of last year the strength of the staff was 10 Veterinary
Inspectors and 103 Veterinary Assistants.
In April 1909, six passed pupils were appointed.
Later on in the year three
more appointments were made, two in July and one in September, making a
total of 112 employed.
There were four casualties as follows: Maung Sein Kai died at Ngathaing-
gyaung from plague. Maung Po Chit (I) and Maung Ba Yo were both removed for
making false statements in their diaries and Maung U resigned the Department.
At the end of the year, therefore, there were 108 Assistants.
Sixty-eight
(which number includes three Reserve Assistants, two Headquarters Assistants and
one Pupil Teacher) were employed in Lower Burma and forty in Upper Burma.
Of the ten Inspectors one, Maung Nyo, died, leaving nine at the close
of the year. Six were stationed in Lower and three in Upper Burma.
There were 19 Veterinary Assistants placed on special duty during the
year excluding the Reserve Assistants : Akyab 4, Amherst 2, Katha 1, Bhamo 4,
Ruby Mines 1, Myingyan 1, Northern Shan States 6.
The average period spent by these men on special duty was 90 days.
The three Reserve men were kept very busy. Maung Tun Nyet and Maung
Paik were on duty in Myitkyina. Maung Po Inn, in addition to officiating
for an Assistant on leave in Tharrawaddy District, was employed in the Kyauksè
and Bhamo Districts.
Maung Tun Nyet and Maung Paik have been stationed on the Chinese
Frontier in Bhamo District for some time—the former at Lweje, the latter first at
Nawprayang and later at Momauk.
The number of days spent away from headquarters was : Maung Tun Nyet 252,
Maung Paik 252, Maung Po Inn 241, making an average of 2483 days.
They visited 249 villages and attended 79 outbreaks.
The average number of days spent on tour by the Inspectors was 242
in Lower and 218.6 in Upper Burma. They attended 119 outbreaks in Lower and
113 in Upper Burma.
The Inspectors in Lower Burma visited altogether
1,316 villages, whilst those in Upper Burma visited 598 villages.
The work of 6 Inspectors and 78 Assistants was inspected by the Super-
intendents.
The work of Assistants has on the whole been quite satisfactory. As already
noted, two men were removed for misconduct. The Deputy Commissioner,
Kyaukpyu, remarks that the Assistants in his district are inexperienced, being
recently appointed.
It can be said of these young men that they were smart at
school but needed looking after, as they were lazy. They are Arakanese and were
taken on especially with a view to posting them in that country as it is extremely
difficult to get good Burman Assistants who will remain there owing to sickness or
the fear of it. The Assistants have been warned. I have little doubt ample
opportunities will be afforded them of remedying their lack of experience.
The Subdivisional Officer of Yamèthin was not satisfied with the work of the
Veterinary Assistant as he had found out that the people in some villages had been
"humoured" when they wished to withhold their cattle from inoculation; this
probably is a fault common to many Veterinary Assistants who, though they
do advise and recommend serum injection, do not perhaps, when the people
show hesitation, press the point as much as they should.