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In examining the Register of the Vaccinator and those operated on in any village, my usual
custom is to collect the children with their parents, and calling out the names as they are in the
book, or the Telattee or Mooknee calls out the names as in his list; then each parent, if
present, answers to his name, and brings the child, whose arms are examined ; if not present,
and unable to be so, the reason is entered, and the next name called. After the whole list is
thus gone through, conversation on the healthiness of the village during the last two or three,
and sometimes as far back as ten years is discussed; the soil and productiveness of the land :
what grain or produce the land is best adapted for ; if water is plentiful, also if it is sweet or
brackish; and if any are ill, I go to see them, and prescribe, telling the name of the medicine
or drugs employed, and the quantity used; I also inquire of the native modes of treatment
for the most common diseases, and the medicines in vogue. Vaccination, its history, and use,
forms a lively topic of conversation; but the natural suspicious character of the native mind
is shown, by the common question "are you quite sure that the Government do all this, and
spend so much for kindness to us only, and that they derive no benefit from it."
I received charge of the office on the 15th of January, and in February I visited Dholera,
Mavch Ghoga, and Bownuggur. In April I was recalled to Ahmedabad, where I was
employed on military duties till the end of May. During the rains, I took advantage of those
days in which travelling was practicable to visit the villages of the Northern and Western
Divisions of Dholera, until I was ordered to Baroda in August, where I staid till the beginning
of November. About the midde of that month, I began my present tour, commencing at
Sunnund and thence to Verumgaum, Mandall, and Radhunpoor. I generally stay twelve or
fifteen days in each district, so as to examine ten or twelve villages, of which the Register has
not been examined during the preceding two or three years.
In the past year, I have endeavoured—First, to make the Vaccinators employ themselves
more fully than heretofore in the service for which they are paid. In this I have partially,
and will eventually entirely succeed. Secondly, to have the means of testing the weekly and
monthly Reports, as I found that they seldom if ever agreed, and in this I have done most
satisfactorily. Thirdly, to obtain the visible support of the Civil authorities, as a guarantee
of the Vaccinator being a Government servant, by the assistance of a Peon from the Mamlut¬
dar's office, during the weekly tour of the Vaccinator. This is an actual necessity, as the
only way of obtaining the aid of the Mookhee, Tellattee, or some other native official in the
villages ; and without the assistance of one of these, those vaccinated in the preceding week
could not be collected, so neither could results be known, nor would it be possible to take a
child, not to say children, as is often necessary, from one village to another, as the parents
are not paid for the loss of their day's work. There are Rs. 100 allowed by the Government
for the payment of these people, but I have not heard that the allowance has ever been
drawn, neither do I know how it could be made available for the purpose it is intended; for,
if the sum was divided amongst the Vaccinators, their pay would be increased thereby ; but
the benefit to those for whose remuneration it is intended is not obvious, honesty not being a
trait in the native character, if there is any gain by a fraud in which detection may be
evaded in any way.
I beg respectfully to bring the following suggestions to the notice of my superiors :—
1st.—That, although the Vaccinators require but too frequently a spur to be careful and
industrious by a fine, which is at the discretion of the Superintendent, yet he has
no means at his disposal of rewarding those who are industrious and zealous, which
would act equally as a stimulant, whether the amount of the fines would not be
well and profitably bestowed for that purpose.
2nd.—That, as it is desirable to know the percentage of those vaccinated to the children
born, whether a copy of the Register of Births, sent from the districts to the
Collector, might not with advantage be forwarded to this office.