Resolution on the report of the administration of the Veterinary
Department, Eastern Bengal and Assam, for the year 1909-1910.
Extract from the proceedings of the Lieutenant-Governor of Eastern Bengal and
Assam in the Revenue Department, No. 756 Ag., dated the 21th August 1910.
READ —
The report of the Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, Eastern Bengal ana Assam, on
the Administration of the Veterinary Department for the year 1909-1910, with the Director
of Agriculture's forwarding remarks.
RESOLUTION.
1. The main feature of the report is the remarkable decrease in mortality
ascribed to the principal bovine contagions diseases. The number of deaths reported
declined from 85,476 in the previous year to 50,276, the mortality from rinderpest,
foot and mouth disease and anthrax being less than two-thirds of that for 1908-1909.
Outside Assam Proper the arrangements for recording these statistics are still
imperfect, but there are grounds for supposing that the decrease in question was a
genuine one. In 1908-1909 nearly two-thirds of the animals treated by itinerant
Veterinary Assistants were suffering from contagious diseases, but in the year under
report the proportion so afflicted was considerably less than half. At the same time
the fact that nearly three-fourths of the total number of reported deaths from
contagious diseases were reported from the five upper districts of the Assam Valley,
indicates either very unfavourable conditions for bovine life in that portion of the
province, or, and this seems more probable, that the arrangements for reporting
casualties elsewhere leave much to be desired. In either case the matter is one
which calls for the attention of the Veterinary Department. The Lieutenant-Governor
is, however, glad to see that outbreaks of disease appear to be reported in Eastern
Bengal with fair promptitude. This is a matter of prime importance, for as the
returns show that less than one per cent. of the animals inoculated during an
outbreak die of the disease, it is clear that the speedy arrival of the veterinary officer
upon the scene may be the means of saving the villagers from heavy pecuniary loss.
The success that attends inoculation makes any failure in the supply of serum a very
serious matter, and the Lieutenant-Governor hopes that the shortage which occurred
during the year under consideration will not be repeated. As a result of this failure
of the supply of serum the number of inoculations fell from 60.000 in the preceding
year to 38,000 in the year under report.
2. The figures for contagious equine diseases, though a less important consideration
in this province, also indicate improvement. The Superintendent of the Veteri-
nary Department reports that so much opposition was shown to proposals to test
incontact animals that only horses that were clinically affected with glanders were
destroyed. The introduction of rules providing for the grant of compensation to the
owners of animals destroyed will no doubt do much to weaken this opposition.
8. Since the close of the year the arrangements for veterinary treatment in the
Surma Valley have been brought into line with the rest of the province by the sub-
stitution of provincial officers for the employes of the Surma Valley Branch of the
Tea Association. The thanks of Government are, however, due to Mr. Cresswell and
other residents of the Surma Valley for the time and trouble they expended on the
introduction of an organized system of veterinary relief in this portion of the province.
The actual strength of the Department at the end of the year was 47 officers or 10
more than in 1908-09, but this is still far below the sanctioned strength of 143
officers.
4. The Lieutenant-Governor notices with regret the Superintendent's complaint
that a number of assistants were found lacking in energy and initiative. In many
parts of the province the whole theory of veterinary treatment is still unfamiliar, and