REVENUE DEPARTMENT.
AGRICULTURE.
DARJEELING, THE 26TH AUGUST 1906.
RESOLUTION No. 1843T.-R.
READ—
The Annual Report of the Civil Veterinary Department, Bengal, and of the Bengal
Veterinary College for the year 1905-06.
Read also—
(1) Director of Agriculture's letter No. 2807A., dated the 16th July 1906, submitting
the report to the Board of Revenue.
(2) The Annual Report of the same Department and College for the year 1904-05
and the Government Resolution recorded thereon.
THE report which was punctually submitted deals principally with the
Province of Bengal as constituted after the partition, but statistics regarding
the treatment of animals and the working of the Veterinary hospitals and
dispensaries in some of the transferred districts have been incorporated in the
statements attached to the report.
2. Veterinary Instruction.—The total number of students on the roll of
the Bengal Veterinary College at the end of the year under report was 106 as
against 85 in the previous year. The number would have been larger had not
some of the students left the College after admission owing to want of
sufficient accommodation in the hostel attached to it. Funds have already
been allotted for the construction of a new hostel, and steps are being taken to
carry out the work as quickly as possible. The results of the final and the
annual class examinations of the College were not so satisfactory as in the
preceding year, the percentages of the successful students in each of the classes
A, B and C being 57, 82 and 47, respectively, as compared with 78, 95, and 80
in the previous year. The unsatisfactory result is mainly due to the inadequacy of
the teaching staff of the College throughout the year, and to some extent to the
inferior educational qualifications of the students admitted. Steps have already
been taken to remove both these causes; the former, by the addition of a
second Imperial officer to the teaching staff, who joined his duties in February
last, or only a short time before the close of the year under report; and the
latter, by the issue of revised rules laying down that only students who have
passed the Entrance Examination of the Calcutta University, or who have
completed the High School course, or who can produce certificates of having
received an education equivalent to either of these two standards should be
eligible for admission to the College. The works of improvement to the
College detailed in paragraph 2 of the Resolution recorded on the last year's
report have been taken in hand by the Public Works Department. The Com-
mittee have held two special meetings at Belgachia to consider the adoption of
sites, the laying out of the ground and the construction of the buildings.
3. Treatment of diseases.—The total number of animals treated in
Veterinary hospitals and dispensaries, including the infirmary attached to the
Bengal Veterinary College, during the year, in the Province, as constituted
after the Partition of Bengal, was 29,312, of which 9,941 were horses, 15,252
cattle and 4,119 other animals, as against 7,929, 15,001 and 3,123 (exclusive of
the figures for the transferred districts) during the preceding year. The figures
show a general increase in the number of patients treated at the dispensaries
and indicate the growing popularity of the scientific mode of treatment offers
at those institutions. The increase was most marked in the case of
Dumraon, Burdwan, Larpur (Saran) and Palamau dispensaries.