6

Defence Force. Amongst our old comrades Colonel Baldrey has
been given the decoration of C. M. G.

" But apart from the incidence of war, the period which has
elapsed since our last meeting has been an important one in other
directions. In the first place the report of the Public Services
Commission has brought into prominence many questions connected
with our future organization a large number of which find their place
on our agenda to-day. As a result there is no doubt that, to mention
only one, the important question of veterinary education will have
to be tackled from a wider standpoint.

" Again, there is the whole question of the reorganization of
all branches of the service—Imperial, Provincial and Subordinate.
While the Montagu-Chelmsford reform proposals will not perhaps
affect the Veterinary Department so much as they may some other
departments of Government which have not already been so com-
pletely provincialized, they give us an opportunity of considering
to what extent, with provincial devolution, our departments should
be expanded and what provision should be made for research.
My own idea, and I give it only for what it is worth, is that in course
of time it will be found desirable to have in India a strong Central
Board of Agriculture organized somewhat on the basis of the Board
of Agriculture and Fisheries in England or of the Boards of Agri-
culture in Scotland and Ireland. It seems to me that if we are to
have any regular progress, especially in research, there must, while
giving a complete provincial autonomy, be some centralization
to ensure and to guarantee the best results, and there seems to be
little doubt that if such a policy is accepted, veterinary science must
be represented.

" I do not propose to refer in detail to the agenda which is com-
prehensive and deals with a large number of administrative as well
as practical questions ; but I am afraid that one point will emerge
from nearly every discussion that we have and that is the utter
inadequacy of the veterinary staff, either in the superior or sub-
ordinate grades, to cope with the vast problems with which the
department is confronted. On the maintenance and health of the
cattle of India depends the whole of our agriculture and, if that is to
be effectively achieved, it seems necessary that we should have a
large and an early expansion of our department.

" The question of the revision of the pay of the Imperial Service
rests on the decision arrived at on the recommendations of the
Public Services Commission on this question ; but I would remark
that circumstances have considerably changed since the issue of
that Commission's report and that the war has materially altered
the situation. If we want the best men for India we shall have to