out, supervised by the Inspector General of the Civil' 

 Veterinary Department, assisted by about a dozen veterinary 

 surgeons who have various other duties to perform, in taking 

 measures for prevention of cattle disease, in directing veterinary 

 education, including colleges for natives who are being trained 

 in bacteriological research, &c., &c. 



The multiplicity of their duties permits the officers of the 

 Department to devote only a very limited degree of supervision 

 to the work of the stallions ; and, further, the veterinary 

 surgeons employed have never studied breeding as a science. 

 There is also the fact that after a few years' service in the 

 Department they revert to their duties Avith the Army ; 

 whereby no continuous system of supervision is possible. 



The gravest objection, however, in Sir John Watson's- 

 opinion, to the " Diffused System" is that it treats the thirteen 

 different Indian breeds of horse as one, all mares being classed 

 as " country-bred mares ;" it provides no means nor machinery 

 whereby the result of using any given stallion on any given 

 mare can be ascertained. There does not now exist in India 

 even an experimental stud in which the results of different 

 crosses can be observed. The Returns, in a word, take 

 account only of the stallions, and pay no attention whatever to 

 the mares. 



No attempt has been made to preserve these breeds in 

 their purity ; mares of each and all are covered indiscriminately 

 by English sires of different classes and by Arabs of greater 

 of less purity of blood. Sir John observes that under these 

 circumstances it is not wonderful that wide divergence of 

 opinion concerning the relative merits of Thoroughbred, 

 Hackney and Arab should exist. "If nothing is known of 

 the breeding or quahty of a Remount dam, how is it possible 

 to ascribe good or evil to the sire alone ? " This being the 

 case, he dismisses the " Figures of Merit " quoted on page 57 

 as valueless. 



Sir John Watson says he is not aware that the main 

 purpose of the scheme was subverted at the outset, as stated,. 



61 



