16          REPORT OF THE CIVIL VETERINARY DEPARTMENT, BURMA,

Burma where, as has been indicated, it is necessary to work against
time, and the results have been quite promising.

Comparatively few buffaloes have been vaccinated, on account of
their very low resistance to the virus of Rinderpest. In one case in the
field a buffalo escaped after receiving only an infinitesimal quantity of
vaccine from the prick of a needle, and before the barrel of the syringe
had been attached. This animal reacted just as severely as others
which received the full dose. It is the subsequent mortality in buffaloes,
however, and the great loss of condition in those which recover from
the reaction, which still prevents wholesale vaccination of these
animals being undertaken. Experimental work is now being carried
on at Insein in connection with this problem.

In last year's report a reference was made to certain proposals
regarding compulsory inoculation, which it was intended to submit
to Government this year. The co-operation of the Siamese
authorities was sought in order to try and effect a better measure
of Rinderpest control on the Amherst District Border, by vaccination of
Siamese sale cattle at the Frontier and of all cart-bullocks engaged in
to-and-fro trade. It was arranged that a preliminary survey should be
carried rut by the Siamese authorities, and this is being done.

The other proposals, involving amendment of the " Contagious
Diseases of Animals (Villages) Rules, 1936 " to make provision for
compulsory inoculation, were not submitted, and it is now considered
that they were too far-reaching for present-day conditions.

The draft of the Revised Livestock Importation Rules was
reconsidered with a view to making the Rules more practicable.

Proposals were submitted for the introduction of new legislation
for the improvement of agricultural stock and the prevention of
overstocking of grazing areas and village lands, but it was agreed that
the matter should be kept pending a decision of the Fiscal Committee
on the question of a Cattle Tax. Similar proposals have been discussed
several times since 1909, and especially since the Stock Breeding
Committee, 1917, but have hitherto not been considered to be feasible.

There is nothing to add to last year's remarks concerning the
position with regard to foot-and-mouth disease. The Department
continues to waste time and money in attempting to deal with the
outbreaks by segregation, in accordance with the existing Rules.
Proposals for altering the Rules to bring them more into line with,
those in force in some other tropical countries have not yet been made
and this matter will now receive early attention. It will be necessary to
adopt measures best suited to this country. In Rhodesia, for instance,
vaccination is combined with stoppage of movement over a wide area,
requiring cordons of special police, and the enclosing with fencing of
belts of country sometimes as much as 250 miles in circumference, as
well as slaughter of calves born during the period of infection after