REVENUE DEPARTMENT.
AGRICULTURE.
CALCUTTA,THE 24TH AUGUST 1916.
RESOLUTION—No. 6929 Agri.
READ—
The Annual Reports of the Veterinary College and of the Civil Veterinary Department Bengal,
for the year ending 31st March 1916, with the Director of Agriculture's review thereof.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL A. SMITH was Principal of the Bengal Veteri-
nary College throughout the year, and the late Mr. E. H. Brand held the
office of Assistant Principal. Mr. S. N. Mitra, one of the Lecturers of the
College, died during the year, and in May 1916 Mr. Brand met with a
fatal accident while playing polo. Both of these officers possessed great
ability and by their death the College has suffered a very serious loss. The
second Imperial Officer sanctioned for the College has not yet been
recruited.
The post of Superintendent. Civil Veterinary Department, Bengal, was
held by Mr. P. J. Kerr till the 9th July 1915, when he left the Department
to join the Indian Army Reserve of Officers. He was succeeded by
Mr. A. D. MacGregor, M.R.V.S., an officer of the Indian Civil Veterinary
Department, who was under training at the Bengal Veterinary College.
Mr. MacGregor was in charge of the Department till the 18th February
1916, when he also joined the Indian Army Reserve of Officers. For the
remaining period of the year Lieutenant-Colonel A. Smith. Principal,
Bengal Veterinary College, held charge of the Department in addition to
his own duties. Mr. Kerr was on tour for 27 days and Mr. MacGregor for
85 days. With a view to assisting the Superintendent in touring and in
the inspection of the work of the subordinate staff of the Department, the
appointment of a second grade Deputy Superintendent for the Civil Veteri-
nary Department was sanctioned during the year and Babu S. C. Pal
was appointed to the post: he was on tour for 105 days. It is reported
that his work has been satisfactory and has contributed largely to the
efficient supervision of the Department.
2. There was a considerable increase in the number of students at the
Bengal Veterinary
ollege during the year, the number on the roll at the
end of the session being 135 as compared with 96 in 1914-15, 91 in 1913-14
and 99 in 1912-13. Nineteen students graduated from the College at the
close of the year, and the percentage of passes at the final examination was
67.85 as against 82'60 in 1914-15. During the year 30 students were sent
to the College by the Sanitary Commissioner of Bengal to attend a course
of lectures on infectious diseases of cattle.
3. The Governor in Council is glad to notice that the Raymond
Research Laboratory at the College continued to do valuable work especially
with reference to the diagnosis of infectious diseases.
4. The report of the Civil Veterinary Department shows a considerable
decrease in the mortality of animals from contagious diseases during the
year, the total number of deaths reported being 10,725, as against 15,950 in
1914-15. The number of deaths amongst bovines from rinderpest fell from
13,662 in 1914-15 to 8,893. Good results were obtained from preventive
inoculation conducted by the Department. There were 284 outbreaks of
rinderpest in the area outside Calcutta and its suburbs, resulting in the
death of 3,351 uninoculated animals, while out of 38,950 inoculated animals
only 364, or a little over 0.9 per cent., died. It is reported that there were no
deaths amongst 2.029 animals inoculated for hæmorrhagic septicaemia. In
Calcutta and its suburbs there were 28 outbreaks of rinderpest which were