ABOUT RATS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 312, 29 June 1912, Page 6

ABOUT RATS

TALK WITH AN EXPERT. I By Telegraph —Press Association. i Auckland, Thursday. "Hundreds of rats, and more to come," said an Auckland rat catcher, displaying a little army of vanquished rodents. : For each head he is paid the sum of 3d, and it is quite an easy matter for him to make from £2 to £4 a week. The rats are of all sizes? queried the interviewer. "The biggest I've seen was a Norwegian rat. It was the size of a cat." Do they breed quickly? J According to the theory of n. medical | man two rats can breed 1,700,000 of their | species in a year. You see, they have I a litter of eight every six weeks. Two ] are males, the remaining six are females, I and so the numbers are increased. It seems amazing, but it is perfectly true. Of course, nature has caused them to fight against themselves; in fact, to eat each other—and in this way their ranks are decimated." How many do you catch in a day? "Oh, about 30 or so, but if mv time was wholly occupied in the business I could catch many more. Others have tried it, and made from 12s to £1 a day, but they usually throw it up after a few days' work. Even the traps are provided, yet they do not bother." ! How do you catch them? "With cheese, aniseed, or a sardine. The bait has to be frequently changed, owing to the cunning of the rat." How do they discover the plague when you hand them over to the Health Department? "By dissection. Then, securing a piece of the liver or spleen, afterwards placing an extract on the microscopic glass." j I suppose it is a paying game? i> "Well, yes; but I think it pretty hard lines that I and others have to share profits with the man who is looking after the .building they are caught in. That's , not the way to encourage the thing, and J while there is certainly a law which J eases the way for the rat catcher, still where the money lies there you will find someone willing to take a share of it." Would you urge a rat-catching campaign? "Certainly. While there are no signs of plague, and maybe none for many a 'day, still that is no excuse for slackening down. House, factory, and shopowners ought to approach the matter seriously. The trouble is small, and the results undoubtedly good."