WESTLAND COUNTY COUNCIL

Hokitika Guardian, 18 October 1921, Page 1

WESTLAND COUNTY COUNCIL

the war on rats. At tile West l:i ml County Council meeting oil Tuesday tlie billowing biter from the Health 1 topartinfill was reed and ordered to bo l>ul.lish<d lor information to the public ns to the necessity and means for waging war on rats "in the district as a preventative noiiiimt the possible introduction of plague to the Dominion: ]{ \T KXTKR.AI IN ATION K‘>R PI.AGIK PItI'AKNTION plague having shewn ftself at Krislaiu,-, Austiytlia, and infected rats Still being discovered there, it is necessary for rat destruction measures to be taken in this country.

I would therefore direct your Council to institute till actvo campaign against rats at mice by means of trapping and the laying of poison in order to minimise the spread of plague, should it be the unfortunate lot of tins country for this disease to gain enti>. \ Traps used, should he of the spring type that kill the animal at once. 2. Bv moans of squaros nl c«nniou:u<l about eighteen inches, square coated with heavy lithographie varnish, leaving a margin about an inch unvarnished" the bait should he placed in the centre of coated surface The rat ini--I,ores by its feet and fur rapidly dying of fright. S. 15v means of poison bait. Tlic dead animals when found should be immersed in a solution of Jom s Fluid. Gylliu, Izal, Korol, H.vcol or other reliable uut-i-septic, (strength. 1 tablespoonful to two quarts of wutm in order to kill the rat lleas, as it is by means of the bite of these insects that the disease is conveyed to man should the animal from which they came be plague infected. These dead rats should he brought to a pre-arranged station and their bodies burnt in a destructor; in the absence of the latter a good body of sawdust in which the dead rats can be placed and the whole, well sprinkled with kerosene and fresh sawdust added front time to ti,ue till all the bodies are consumed. Under Section 20 (cl of the Health \ct, 1920 your Council c an issue notice

mi 1 lie owner of premises known to harbour rats to exli'i ininat'' lliei.i. Your Council should pay particular attention to the laying of pois.u 10 their rubbish dumps, \ollrs faithlully. T. FLETCHER TELFORD. Medical Officer of Health.