RAT KILLING CLUB.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 432, 3 September 1908, Page 4

RAT KILLING CLUB.

War on rats and other vermin is to begin in England in leal earnest on October 1. On that date the Society for the Destruction of Vermin, will initiate competitions among all the existing sparrow and rat clubs, which they hope to orgauise in one body. All clubs with a membership of twenty will be eligible for the competitions. The club which kills the greatest number of rats in twelve months will receive a prize of ten guineas, and there will be two other prizes of five and three guineas. In addition there will be offered fifty prizes of one guinea each to individuals who can prove big bags. No prize will be given to an individual wbo bas destroyed fewer than 300 rats. The entrance fee for clubs will be 10s. For the country clubs there will be offered five prizes of ten guineas each, and ten prizes of five guineas each for the fifteen clubs providing the largest bag. It is estimated that the champion club should show a bag of 10,000 rats. The Society estimates that there are fifty-six millions of acres under cultivation in the British Isles, and merely for calculations they put one rat on each acre. Each rat can do worth of damage per annum. lu May next the Society will hold an exhibition in which will be shown not only the history of the war on rats, which dates back to ancient Egyptian and Etruscan times, but the most modern methods of exterminating these and other pests.