2
It is thus apparent that the persons recruited are of the class from which
the ordinary ministerial officers in Government service are drawn. The same
caste in about the same proportion would be found in any Government office
in Bihar, whereas if the men selected for veterinary training were properly
selected with a view to the profession they are to embrace, one would expect to find
a preponderating element of the classes closely connected with agriculture; for
example, Rajputs, Bhuihar Brahmans, Goalas, Koiris, Kurmis, Khandaits from
Orissa and Mundas and Oraons from Chota Nagpur with a few Muhammadans
of the cultivating class. The error that at present exists originates from the fact
that we are content to take men who have practically all failed to pass the
Matriculation Examination and who consequently find the usual, and undoubt-
edly to them preferable, career of service in an office closed to them. We also
insist on an education in English by requiring them to be taught in a langu-
age in which they are evidently not fully instructed, with the results indicated
by Mr. Quinlan. The whole question of the pay and travelling allowance of
officials of the Department has for some time been engaging the attention
of the Superintendent as well as the question of the future educational policy
to be adopted and proposals will shortly be made to Government for considera-
tion.
My own opinion is that the vital necessity for the success of the Depart-
ment is not so much the improvement of the pay and prospects of the service
as a radical change in the methods of training and the recruitment of a
class of officer having a more intimate connection with the life of the peasan-
try and a greater natural inclination for the profession he has adopted. I make
these remarks without desiring to disparage much the greatest proportion of
the officers now in service, yet that these strictures are justified is shown by the.
fact that within the year no less than 5 officers either were dismissed or resign-
ed as a result of the institution of enquiries regarding their behaviour. This
is a heavy loss from a department the sanctioned strength of which numbers 61
in all.
4. A distinct improvement has taken place in the reporting of cattle dis-
ease. The procedure now followed is that the Sub-Inspector in charge of a
thana prepares from Chaukidars' and Dafadars' statements and from his own
knowledge of conditions in his charge, a brief statement in triplicate using car-
bon paper. One copy goes to the Superintendent of Police and is forwarded by
him to the Magistrate, the other despatched direct to the Veterinary Assistant
concerned, who thus obtains prompt information of what is going on. Mr.
Quinlan has taken much pains to interest the district officials in this matter,
but much remains yet to be done to secure even an approximate estimate of
cattle mortality. I refer particularly to his remarks under the sub-heading
Hæmorrhagic Septicæmia, a disease which is responsible for great loss to the
cultivator.
The new register referred to at the close of the paragraph on the treat-
ment of diseases is intended to be taken by the Veterinary Assistant to the
mufassal; in it he will enter any information he may collect while on tour
and will compare it with the records maintained at the thana. The enquiry
regarding cattle disease in Ranchi which was made at the instance of the
Revd. Father Hoffmann is likely to produce important results in the training
of locally recruited youths as inoculators to combat the disease of Hæmor-
rhagic Septicæmia. Since the close of the year under review a class of 28
youths has been formed and they are now going through a two months'
course of instruction under the supervision of the chief Inspector of the
Department, Babu P. N. Das. They promise well and great hopes are enter-
tained that through their agency an important advance in prophylactics
will be made.
5. The figures for preventive inoculations for the last three years are :—
1910-11 ... ... ... ... ...
1911-12 ... ... ... ... ...
1912-13 ... ... ... ... ...
20,970
16,664
22,124