Resolution on the Report of the Administration of the Veteri-
nary Department, Eastern Bengal and Assam, in the year
1908-09.
Extract
from the Proceedings of the Lieutenant-Governor
of Eastern Bengal and
Assam in the Revenue Department, No. 2547 R., dated the 16th September 1909.
READ—
A Report of the Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, Eastern Bengal and Assam, on the
administration of the Veterinary Department in the year 1908-09, with the Director of Agircul-
ture's remarks thereon.
The staff of the Department during the year wa9 reinforced by 12 graduate
assistants and on the 31st March 1909 stood at a total of 34 assistants and two In-
spectors. The total sanctioned strength of the Veterinary Service is 1 Superintendent,
2 Deputy Superintendents, 8 Inspectors, and 132 Veterinary Assistants. Hitherto the
service has been almost entirely recruited from the successful holders of Government
stipends at Belgachia College. While Government is hound, in order to meet the
necessity of bringing the service up to its full strength with as little delay as possible,
to offer stipends on a liberal scale to prospective candidates, it is not intended thereby
to discourage the interest hitherto shown by District and Local Boards in providing
stipends for students, and it is hoped that the more favourable terms of pay and
allowances which the recent orders of the Government of India have prescribed
will materially facilitate recruitment and encourage students to qualify themselves
independently of Government aid. The Director of Agriculture anticipates that the
service will attain its full sanctioned strength in 1918-19.
2. Over 85,000 cases of deaths from contagious diseases amongst cattle were
reported during the year, and more than half this number of deaths was due to
rinderpest. The inoculation work done by the Assistants of the Department proper
showed a very considerable increase, and the utility of this work can be seen from
the fact that out of 50,194 cattle inoculated in villages in which outbreaks of
rinderpest occurred, only 444 died of the disease, while 7,673 deaths were reported
amongst uninoculated animals.
In all, 58,002 animals were inoculated against
contagious diseases. This represents a decrease on last year's total, which is due to a
very large decrease in the number of outbreaks of rinderpest in the Surma Valley,
as compared with the previous year.
Considering the staff at its disposal, the
Department has shown commendable activity in this important direction of preven-
tion of disease, and the Lieutenant-Governor looks forward to a time when rinderpest
and other contagions diseases which have in the past caused such widespread damage
in the Province will rarely assume an epidemic or serious form.
3. The ability of the Department to attain this object must, however, depend
not only upon adequate recruitment, but also upon the improvement of the means of
at once reporting outbreaks. With this object a scheme has been introduced by
the Director of Agriculture with the approval of Government for utilising the peri-
patetic officers of other Departments, such as Sub-Inspectors of Excise and Schools,
Circle Officers, kanungoes, Income-tax assessors, and khas Tahsildars as reporting
agencies. These officers have been supplied with post-card forms, and with a leaflet,
containing instructions, which will enable them to recognise the symptoms of the more
serious forms of contagious diseases, and have been instructed to report by post any out-
hreaks of such diseases which they may find in an epidemic form in the course of their
tours. At the same time the Inspector General of Police has issued orders to thana
officers impressing upon them the necessity of reporting promptly all such outbreaks as
are brought to their notice. Considerable advance has also been made in the distribu-
tion of veterinary leaflets in the vernacular conveying simple instructions for the
treatment of the commoner forms of cattle-disease.
4. The work done at dispensaries shows very little advance on that of the
previous year, although two more dispensaries have been in operation during the course
of the year. Expenditure on dispensaries and hospitals, however, increased by
Rs. 7,000 and it may be hoped that this represents an increase of efficiency. Lack
of funds has prevented the building of four Veterinary Hospitals for which sites
have been chosen. But until the service is sufficiently strong to admit of placing
the whole-time services of a Veterinary Assistant at the disposal of dispensaries, it