2
have now been increased to Rs. 13 a month, there appears to be no doubt
that the real cause of our inability to obtain candidates. is the low scale of pay,
and the lack of prospects which are open to those who enter this branch of
Government service. This opinion has been confirmed by most District Officers.
A scheme for the re-organisation of the Department was submitted to
Government before I proceeded on leave, and it is understood that the local
Government after carefully considering it and consulting the local bodies con-
cerned are about to lay it before the Government of India.
This year, 11 boys, exclusive of the 4 Government stipendiaries, were sent
up by District Boards for training at Belgachia. It is satisfactory to be able to
state that the three Government stipend-holders from Ranchi district passed
their Annual Examination successfully, and are likely to become useful Assist-
ants. An additional stipend was sanctioned for an Oriya student who also
passed with credit. The number of students from this province at the Bengal
Veterinary College at the end of the session was 13 in the 1st year, 7 in the 2nd
year and 6 in the third year class of whom 9, 5 and 5, respectively passed
at the annual examination.
The new graduates who passed their examinations at the end of March
1915 will be admitted to the Department at the beginning of the next year.
PART II.
TREATMENT OF DISEASE.
As in 1913-14 special attention has been given to the reporting of disease
by the Police, and marked improvement has been noticed in all districts,
except Purnea, Darbhanga and Saran, where the Police have not yet realised
the importance of this part of their duties. In Champaran, the Chaukidars
failed to report Rinderpest and as a result there was a widespread and very
virulent outbreak. Itinerating Assistants and Inspectors, as an important part
of their duties, visit thanas as often as possible, and in this way keep the
Epidemic Report Register up-to-date. District Officers and Superintendents
of Police have helped ungrudgingly, and to them special thanks are due for
the manner in which they have pushed forward inoculations and in other ways
helped the Department.
The total number of outbreaks of all diseases reported during the year
was 3,882 against 1,525 of 1913-14. Two thousand two hundred and ninety-
two were attended.
The establishment of closer relations with the Co-operative Credit Societies
is a subject of the greatest importance, and is engaging my attention, but the
want of sufficient Assistants makes it impossible for the Department to extend
its activities in this direction as energetically as the subject demands.
EQUINES.
No outbreaks of the scheduled contagious diseases of equines were reported
during the year, but there were three outbreaks of Anthrax in which five
animals died. Necessary steps were taken to control them. I am unable to
state what caused 13 deaths under the head "other Contagious Diseases".
BOVINES.
Rinderpest.—The
year under review has been one in which this disease
has been prevalent with more or less virulence in all districts of the Province.
In 1913-14 it was reported from a Bihar district for the first time, since I
took over charge of the Department, and as stated in the report for that year, it
caused a large number of deaths in the Gopalgunj Sub-division of the Saran
district, but fortunately did not spread. It was introduced by cattle, which
returned from the Nepal jungles, into which they are sent each year for grazing.
Rinderpest had been very severe previously in Gorakhpur district of the United
Provinces, and it was by mixing with the cattle from those parts in the grazing
grounds, where the disease was of a very virulent type, that animals from
Bihar became affected. In Champaran an outbreak similarly introduced, oc-
curred during the year. It remained unreported by the Police for a considerable