REVENUE
DEPAETMENT.
AGRICULTURE.
CALCUTTA, the 8th AUGUST 1899.
RESOLUTION No. 2630.
READ—
The Annual Report of the Civil Veterinary Department, Bengal, for the year ending
31st March 1899.
Letter No. 55T.A., dated the 19th June 1899, from the Director of the Department
of Land Records and Agriculture, Bengal, submitting the above.
THE Annual Report of the Civil Veterinary Department, Bengal, for the
year ending 31st March 1899, which was due on the 1st of June reached this
Government 23 days after the date fixed for its submission, or two months
earlier than was the case last year. The Lieutenant-Governor hopes that the
Director of Land Records will find it possible to submit the report still
more punctually in future. The report affords a clear and short account of
the important matters with which the Department has to deal; and the Statistical
tables appended to it contain much valuable information in a convenient
form.
2. The Veterinary College.—In the year under report the status of the
Bengal Veterinary School was raised to that of a College, and the course
of instruction was extended from two to three years. The institution has
fairly earned this promotion by good work in the past; and the Lieutenant-
Governor has every confidence that its future will justify the action of
Government. Revised rules fur the admission of the students, the regulation
of their studies, and the admission of animals into the hospital attached to the
college have, since the close of the year, been published under Government
Notification No. 523T.—R., dated the 14th June 1899.
Though the number of students attending the college throughout the
year under report was smaller than in previous years, the results of the
annual examinations of the institution were most satisfactory. All the six
students of the first-year class, and the 15 students of the second-year class,
passed creditably and were promoted to the respective higher classes. At
the prize distribution made by the Lieutenant-Governor at the college premises
on the 25th March last, he had the pleasure of expressing his satisfaction at the
excellence of the arrangements of the institution, the thoroughness of the
instruction imparted to the students, and the rapid advance made by it within
the short space of five years from the commencement of its existence.
3. Stipends.—Out
of the 30 monthly stipends of Rs. 5 each annually
allotted by Government, only four were awarded in class A, and 10 in class
B of the college during the year under report.
The remaining students were
assisted, six by District Board Stipends, one by the Burdwan Raj Stipend,
and one by the Shew Buksh Bagla Scholarship.
4. The Managing Committee.—The Managing Committee was strength-
ened by the addition of Mr. C. L. S. Russell, c.s.,and Mr. Abdur Rahman, Khan
Bahadur, and after the prize distribution, at which the Lieutenant-Governor
commented on the small amount of interest shown in the college by
Muhammadans, two other members, viz., the Hon'ble Nawab Syed Amir
Hossein, c.i.e., and Maulvi Budruddin Haidar Khan Bahadur, were appointed.
It is hoped that the addition of these gentlemen will induce the community to
which they belong to turn their minds to a form of employment, which in
other provinces has proved very attractive to them.
5. The. Veterinary Infirmary.—There
has been a large increase in the
number of sick animals treated in the infirmary and in the income from fees
for treatment and shoeing. There is still, however, much room for develop-
ment, and the Lieutenant-Governor hopes that as further knowledge is gained
of the advantages offered by the institution the public generally, and official
bodies especially, will resort to it with increasing frequeney and confidence.