BUBONIC PLAGUE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 53, 20 July 1912, Page 4

BUBONIC PLAGUE.

■ STAMPED OUT IN' AUCKLAND. I EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGN AGAINST 1 EATS. 3 Auckland, Thursday. The season when bubonic plague may • be expected to make its appearance in those places where it lias become endemic is between February and June, and Auckland is happy because this year, the first time for several years, ' there has been no outbreak. Last year there were seven eases of plague in' the city, two of which' were fatal, and this led to vigorous action on the part of the public health and civic authorities. l The result is spoken of in a report . on the year's work by the Auckland | City Council's chief inspector, in which ( he says:—"We first got to work on a quarter which we believed to be the ! very source of plague infection. Half a sack fu)l_ of plague rats was taken from one building in the centre of the particular area, and when the floors were taken up and the walls pulled down we found heaps and heaps of skeletons. The owners were forced to cut off connection with the Ligar Canal, I to build concrete floors and walls, and I to-day you will have a difficulty in find- I ing a single rat on those particular premises. In every place where public food supplies were bandied we maintained a rigid inspection. Six men all through the dangerous months, February to June„ have done nothing else but continually make rounds of investigation. Cellars, basements, kitchens and similar places where food supplies are kept or prepared, have been made ratproof by means of cement floors and walls, and owners and occupiers had to comply strictly with the stringent bylaws approved in the interests of publ'ic health by the Council last vear. Dnrin" the last five inon :hs the campaign against rats has betu actively pursued bv Public Health and Citv Council employees, and the public has been stirred into taking vigorous action. We have employed one man to catch rats alive, i so that they may be examined by the Public Health officers, and we feel some ' pride in the effectiveness of our work ! when we are able to say that out of 1 •>0f)O vats caught and examined there 1 was not one single plague-rat found this ' year. We claim that Auckland is now a clean city, and are confident that with the co-operation oP the citizens we will have 110 difficulty in keeping it so." ' •