( 10 )
100. Twenty hill cattle were purchased in Kalimpong and sent to
Muktesar for experiment with regard to their susceptibility to rinderpest.
101. During the year also Major Holmes has been supplied with cases
of Kumri from Champaran district and a further supply is being collected
for him. If these experiments prove successful in elucidating the cause of
this fatal disease and in determining a cure, a great benefit will have been
conferred on horse-owners in this part of India, as the mortality is a cause of
considerable annual loss. Cases of a disease simulating Kumri have been
reported among the goats in the north of Champaran.
PART V.-EXPENDLTURE OP THE DEPARTMENT.
102. Table XIV(a) shows the cost of the department during the
year.
PART VI.-GENERAL REMARKS.
103. Substantial progress has been made during the year in nearly
every branch of the department, though it is considerably handicapped by
the large number of young inexperienced graduates.
104. Many District Boards from want of funds are unable to employ
more men than they now have and in those districts where diseases are wide-
spread and only one veterinary assistant, work under such conditions is
unsatisfactory.
105. The efficacy of preventive inoculation is beginning to be recognized,
and people who now ask for it, were quite against its introduction some
short time ago.
106. The question of making provision for a second Superintendent
for the department is brought to the notice of Government. With the rapid
development of the department it is impossible to keep in that touch with
Inspectors and veterinary assistants which is so essential, and moreover it
leaves no time for investigation of diseases, a subject which does not receive
the attention which it deserves; personal enquiries into outbreaks; the
efficacy of the serum and vaccines that are now used, are a few out of
a large number of subjects which should receive special attention; there
are therefore very strong reasons why a second officer should be employed
at an early date.
107. The new scheme for the formation of a Provincial Veterinary
Service was sanctioned during the year but was not brought into operation.
108. Rules for the guidance of itinerating veterinary assistants, and
for the management of hospitals and dispensaries have been submitted to
the Director of Agriculture for approval. A set of uniform rules for this
province is urgently needed.
109. The rules under the Glanders and Farcy Act submitted last year
have not yet been sanctioned by Government. It is regretted that epizootic
lymphangitis and surra have not been placed under the Glanders and Farcy
Act as applied to the whole province. Two cases of surra were met with,
and were it not for the public spirit shown by the owner of the diseased
horses, they could not have been destroyed,
110. Poisoning of cattle in the districts of Jessore, Khulna and Madia
is believed to be the cause of serious mortality.
111- The Cruelty to Animals Act does not seem to work very smoothly
in many municipalities, if one is to judge by the number of ponies which
are unfit for service and that are daily allowed to ply for hire.
112. In Gaya and Burdwan and in those municipalities which lie on
the river Hooghly, north of Howrah, there are a large number of ponies
which are unfit for work of any kind, from festering collar galls, lameness,
bad shoeing, old age debility, etc. The educated portion of the native
community in some cases are as big offenders as the gharrywallah.
The
penalties inflicted by the majority of trying Magistrates seem to be totally
inadequate. Fines, without compelling owners to give their animals sufficient
time to recover from their wounds, lameness, etc , are no deterrent. It fre-
quently happens that owners are fined, and after paying, they take their
animals away from court and work them the same day.