Proceedings of the Hon'ble the Lieuntenant-Governor of the Punjab, in the Revenue and Agricultural
(general) Department, No. 625 S., dated Simla, 8th August 1896.
READ —
Letter No. 1336. dated 13th July 1895, from the Director of Land Records and Agriculture,
Punjab, submitting the Report on the Civil Veterinary Department in the Punjab
for the year 1895 96.
REMARKS. —This is the first time that a single Annual Provincial Report
on the working of the Civil Veterinary Department in the Punjab has been
prepared by the Director of Land Records and Agriculture instead of his
submitting, as formerly, the separate reports of the various Circle Superintendents
with his remarks upon them. The new plan was proposed by this Government
last year and sanctioned by the Government of India in the Revenue Department's
letter No 1608, dated 15th October 1895. Under the present arrangement the
58 pages of last year's Report have been reduced to 15.
2. The Director of Land Records makes some interesting remarks upon
the statistics as to the success in foal-getting on the part of Imperial and District
Board stallions respectively. With these remarks the Lieutenant-Governor is
diposed to agree, as well as with the view which Mr. Robertson takes of what
our policy should be in regard to branded mares and their progency, viz., to
reduce restrictions and registration to its lowest possible limit.
3. As regards mule-breeding, both the Superintendents and the Direct-
or of Land Records say that we might, as they express it, "leave this branch of
work to the Imperial donkeys," but having regard to the immense importance of
mule-breeding for military purposes, His Honor would be glad to have some
further explanation as to what is meant. It was noted in the 4th paragraph of
last year's Review that while the Director and the Superintendent, South Punjab,
spoke of the demand for donkey stallions as very small, the latter observed that
there was great difficulty in obtaining donkey sires, and the Superintendent,
North Punjab, said that "in his circle sufficient employment could be found for
many donkey stallions, the supply of donkeys from Imperial funds being
inadequate to the demand.
4. It is a pity that the Superintendents are able to devote so little time
to cattle. In this connection it may be well to again direct attention to the
remarks made by the Government of India upon last year's Report and Review in
their Revenue and Agricultural Department letter No. 1351, dated 5th September
1895. The Government of India, while admitting that, owing to the present
paucity of officers on the staff, it was unavoidable that the superior officers of the
Civil Veterinary Department should look upon horse-breeding as their first duty,
at the same time pointed out that the case was quite different with regard to
District Veterinary Assistants who are paid by District Boards, and whose pri-
mary duty should therefore be to look after the cattle and other stock of the
zamíndárs who provide their salaries.
5. The six Veterinary dispensaries in the Punjab appear to be doing
good work, but it may be noted that Rohtak and Siálkot are the only two
districts in which the attendance at the dispensaries has increased during the
year.
6. Proposals for the reorganization of the Subordinate Veterinary estab-
lishment are at present under the consideration of the Government of India.
After orders have been passed on them a third Veterinary Superintendent for the
Province would no doubt be very useful if funds and a man can be provided.
7. The Report notices a satisfactory increase in the number of castrations
of colts performed in the Province during the year. There is a discrepancy between
paragraph 11 of the Report, where Dera Gházi Khan is mentioned as a district in
which castration has become very common, and Table L at the end of the Report,
where the name of that district does not occur.