RAVAGES BY MICE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3062, 25 April 1917, Page 5

RAVAGES BY MICE

Melbourne, 'April 24. , It is estimated' that the Victorian , farmers will lose £100,000 as the result of the mice plague.—Press Assn-

[Some idea of the extent of the mice ' plague may bo gathered from the following experience of a country storekeeper, published in an Australian contemporary :—A storekeeper noticed for r ,'. some time that his stock had been un- ■-, dergoing depletion, but the climax came when he was awakened one night by. mico nibbling at his nails, and on rising from his, bed found that his premises wero full of the vermin. An« other night he was disturbed by what he thought was rain, but investigation; \ "proved that the roof was covered with; mice; The stock in his shop, with the; oxception of hardware, has been completely ruined. Groceries .of every, description were eaten, holes were nibbled in boots and shoes, and oven labels disappeared from tinned goods* . All that remained of a oase of starch were empty packets riddled with holes* -1 Packets of pencils were destroyed, the .<{ wood evidently proving tasty to the rodents, which'even went so far as to attack leaden bullets in cartridges. It is estimated that the damage to\the stock amounted to.,£Soo. If matters do not improve, he will leave the district. His house had'been partly undermined, and his vegetable garden had ■ completely disappeared.]