PLAQUE OF RATS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1326, 2 January 1912, Page 3

PLAQUE OF RATS.

AMAZING SCENES IN CARDIFF SUBURB. Canton, one of the largest districts of Cardiff, has been pestered by rats, which swarm everywhere and eat everything. Ccunters .and shelves in grocers' shops, moat at butchers', cellars, and kitchens, and even bedrooms are not safe. Terrified families hido their heads under the bed-clgthes at night lest a 6tray rat pounces on their faces, and children arc panic stricken. Thi-; was in November and a great public protest against tho inactivity of the t1 l r j ljcs ia leavin ff tho residents to nght the evil alone was suggested. At a dairy shop one big rat was found to have dined so well that it was too fat to re-enter its hiding place. "That cat is -worth 10s. a week to me." said a tradesman to a"Daily Chronicle" eel-respondent. "The rats used to climb on the shelves, eat my jama, spoil my bacon and hams, and play havoc with my cheese. I put down my average weekly loss at 10s., but since I've had that cat tne rats have gone. Scores of rata-were seen holdinjr high revel in a shop lato at night, whilst policemen and late workers looked on through the window. A rat was seen pushing an egg with its pawn towards its liole. "Ono (lay, said tho shopkeeper, "I was startled by a,stream of water rushing through the walls; I discovered that tho rats had eatou through the lead water-pipe."