92 INSTRUCTIONAL WORK BY A.V.S. 



present themselves. For instance, on the occasion of inspection 

 of units very often a few useful hints or lessons may be imparted, 

 particularly perhaps with regard to dieting in relation to season 

 or work, care of feet and shoeing, and any other matter which 

 the inspection suggests. In point of fact, the value of a 

 Veterinary inspection of a unit is not altogether one of report 

 on efl&ciency or otherwise to a superior officer, but it is the 

 watching of any item that can be improved or remedied, con- 

 ducing thereby to the health and efficiency of the animals 

 concerned. I call to mind the many pleasant days and hours 

 spent with Commanding Officers in the old times of my 

 inspecting career in India, when we used to have a regular sort 

 of indaba on animals ; getting rid of the effete, and discussing 

 ways and means of bettering a situation; arrangements 

 probably having been made specially some time before. The 

 principle of assistance and advisory counsel can always be made 

 to fall in with the formality of inspection, and in its varied 

 aspects it fits the Administrative Officer of Veterinary Service 

 almost more perfectly than any other Administrative Service 

 or Department. It is, at all events, an item of instructional 

 agency on which great store can be laid. 



Chapter III. 

 INSTEUCTION DUEING WAE. 



The difficulty of this is very readily apparent. First, mobil- 

 isation upsets all teaching in schools, as all ranks are required 

 to take their places in their units, and a good many of our units 

 in India, particularly perhaps in transport units, are not too 

 well endowed with the necessary responsible personnel for 

 supervision and care of animals in the. manifold duties in the 

 Field. Schools, too, for the same reason are apt to close down. 



However, so far as Army Veterinary Schools are concerned, 

 as these institutions are contiguous to Army Veterinary Corps 

 Depots, which will certainly be required to function in war as 

 well as in peace, it would be quite simple from a working point 

 of view to continue the Schools — in fact they will be required 



