THE RAT PLAGUE.
The vat plague has reached luangahua, and it is said the rodents are literally swarming at Boatmans. A man informs us (Inangahua Times) that the other day on returning to. dinner he found eight dead rats on the floor of bis tent, the cab having killed that number since 8 a.m. The bush is fairly alive with them, and one cannot travel twenty yards in the day there without seeing a dozen or two. They are as yet not quite so numerous in Reefton, but the number is very large and seems to be daily on the increase. In many households where a rat has never before been seen dozens are now to be found. The rats are of a reddish brown color, somewhat smaller than the ordinary bush rat, and are much easier killed. Two or three months ago the Nelson districts were suffering from the same plague, hut whether the rats have come overland from thence, or from the interior, is a question upon which no opinion is offered. By some it is believed that the migration of the rats is due to the absence of snow in the back country, the barrier round their native habitat being thus removed,
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Kumara Times, Issue 2605, 12 January 1885, Page 3
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205THE RAT PLAGUE. Kumara Times, Issue 2605, 12 January 1885, Page 3
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