3
Rules for the recruit-
ment of compounders.
9. Draft rules under the District Board and Municipal Acts regulating
the employment of compounders and ensuring their effici-
ency have been submitted to Government and have been
published in the Punjab Gazette for the information of the public preliminary
to being made final.
Urgent need of a stronger
and better qualified super-
vising staff, and of ar-
rangements for it's educa-
tion and training.
10. The perusal of Parts II to IV of this report on the Provincial Veter-
inary Department brings out the point very strongly that,
while the field of work continues to extend, and the staff of
veterinary assistants is increasing every year, the super-
vising staff remains practically the same, and is fast becoming
unequal to the task imposed upon it. The present inspectors are not competent
to discharge all the duties which one would legitimately expect from the inter-
mediate grade of supervising officers. The veterinary assistants have to receive
continual technical training, and the time of the Superintendents is largely devoted
to this instead of being freely available for such important work as the investigation
of disease and the supervision of inoculation operations in the field. It is of vital
importance to the future of the Department that this matter should be taken up
without delay. Captain Walker and I are practically agreed as to what should
be done, and our general proposals are now before Government. Briefly, we
recommend:—
(i) An increase in the number of Inspectors and an improvement in
their rates of pay;
(ii) The provision of really adequate arrangements for the education
of men to be given direct appointments as Inspectors, and for
the post-graduate training of selected veterinary assistants for
promotion to inspectorships;
(iii) The strengthening of the grade of Superintendents and the
creation of a few posts of Deputy Superintendents, the Deputy
Superintendentships being filled up in course of time by promo-
tion from the grade of Inspectors. These Deputy Superinten-
dents to be of any real assistance would have to be capable of
discharging quasi-independent duties.
The success of any scheme of this kind will depend entirely on the
efficiency of the educational arrangements referred to in (ii) above. Captain
Walker and I are both of the opinion that the establishment of an Imperial
Veterinary College would offer the best and perhaps the only solution of the
difficulty, the standard of teaching at this College approximating as nearly as
possible to that given at similar institutions in England. The incident at Mianwali
referred to in paragraph 44 of this report, in which a large number of
animals died after inoculation, furnishes a striking example of the need of a
number of thoroughly qualified Inspectors for the control of inoculation work.
The recurrence of similar mishaps, although they might be in no way due to
the serum administered, would conceivably be most disastrous to our work.
Part I.—Veterinary Instruction.
THE PUNJAB VETERINARY COLLEGE.*
Sessions.
11. The summer session commenced on the 22nd April, 1908, closing
on the 30th June 1908. The winter session commenced on
the 6th October, 1908, and closed on the 31st March, 1909.
Veterinary Graduates'
Course.
12. During the year, there have been three classes under-
going instruction for the three years' course, composed as
follows:—
1st year
2nd „
3rd „
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71
81
114
* NOTE.—This report has been submitted by Major A. Smith, Principal of the College.