6
Part II.—Civil Veterinary Department
Provincial Report.
Preliminary.
36. As before there were three Circles during the year under report. The
Provincial Circle, occupied with cattle, remained under
Captain Walker. The North and South Circles for horse,
mule and donkey breeding, were in charge of Captain Trydell and Mr. Oliver,
M. R. C. V. S., respectively, the former, however, administering both Circles
between April 13th and November 30th, 1903.
Transfer of Imperial
Horse Breeding to the
Army Remount Depart-
ment and consequent with-
drawal of all Imperial stal-
lions from non-selected
districts.
37. The year was one of transition. In accordance with the recommend-
ations of the Horse Breeding Commission, horse breeding
with assistance from Imperial Funds was confined to the 11
districts of Lahore, Amritsar, Ferozepore, Mooltan, Dera
Gházi Khan, Shahpur, Jhang, Gujránwála, Attock, Ráwalpindi
and Jhelum and the two canal colonies. The reconstituted
Army Remount Department was placed in charge of these
operations, and also of the advisory duties connected with District Board horse and
mule breeding in the selected districts. The treatment of equine contagious disease
in these districts, with the exception of the city of Lahore and the Kohála-
Ráwalpindi dâk line, was also transferred to their care. The new policy involved the
withdrawal of all Imperial horse and donkey stallions from the non-selected districts.
These numbered 46 horse and 97 donkey stallions. Besides these, the District Board
concerned owned and maintained 43 horse and 9 donkey stallions.
Those
Imperial stallions which were not approved by the Army Remount Department
were offered free to Local Bodies before they were put up to auction, and 2 horses
and 52 donkeys were accepted in this way, particular anxiety being shown to
retain the donkeys for mule breeding. These animals are now kept at the expense
of the various District Boards and the consequent addition to their annual expendi-
ture is considerable.
Dissatisfaction at the
withdrawal of the Imperial
stallions.
38. Mr. Oliver reports that "in many districts from which Imperial
stallions have been removed, there is a certain amount of
dissatisfaction among the owners of branded mares who
complain that, after having been induced to keep good mares
for horse breeding, they now find themselves without good stallions to send them
to." I have heard this complaint from various other sources. The net result of the
change is that the number of horse stallions in non-selected districts has been
reduced by more than half, and mule breeding with approved sires would have
practically ceased had not the District Boards agreed to take over and maintain
52 additional donkeys. These donkeys are nearly all more or less advanced in
years and will soon be of little use for stud purposes,
The necessity of supply-
ing more Stallions discuss-
ed.
39. The question now arises as to what steps, if any, should be taken to
assist breeders in the non-selected districts. The finding of
the Horse Breeding Commission was that these districts are so
unsuitable for horse breeding on account of the conditions of
agriculture and the general indifference of the people that the Imperial Remount
Department should abandon them altogether and concentrate its operations in those
districts in which the prospects of success are more assured. The non-selected districts
have had a prolonged trial under the Civil Veterinary Department, and it has been
established beyond doubt that they will not take up horse and mule breeding on a
large scale. But there are, nevertheless, in these districts, an appreciable number
of men who own good mares and who wish to have them served by good stallions.
If this demand is supplied, a certain number of good horses, ponies and mules will
always be forthcoming from these districts and the tendency must be towards a
gradual all-round improvement in the local stock. I would not advocate lavish
or large expenditure on an apparently hopeless endeavour to stimulate an interest
in breeding. But it is, I think, a matter of Imperial importance that the existing
interest should be kept alive ; that an estimate should be made of the active demand
for stallions of all kinds in each district, and that the number required should be