THE RAT.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 October 1921, Page 10

THE RAT.

AN ENEMY OF MANKIND, ■“Rats! They fought the doge and killed the cats, And bit the babies in their cradles, And ate the cheese out of the vats, And licked the soup from the cook’s own ladles, Split open the kegs of salted sprats, Made nests inside men’s Sunday hats, An even spoiled the women’s chats, By drowning their speaking With shrieking and squeaking In fifty different sharps and flats.” —(Browning’s “Pied Piper.”) Intuition fortunately protects human life often prior to processes of reasoning founded on the results of scientific research. Thus long before science revealed the fact that the bubonic plague is a disease of rats and mice, and is transmitted to man through the medium of the flee, there seems to have been implanted in the mind a natural aversion to this selection from the minor horrors of life. Civil and domestic warfare has long been waged against their existence; but despite the nervous energies of the most militant housewives, reinforced by the valiant cat, they still multiply and infest the earth, transmitting disease, and devouring the good things sent by Providence for mankind’s special sustenance. Of this enumerated trinity of pests probably the species of the genusRattus, known commonly as the black and the brown rat, have less reason to justify their existence; and any crusade waged against these parasites is worthy of practical support and attention. It is pointed out in an instructive review, dealing with the prevention of plague and the economic loss caused by rats, appearing in the November, 1920, issue of the International Journal of Public Health, that one pair of rats, if unmolested and given favorable condi ; tions o." life, will within a year give rise to a progeny of 880 rats. Hinton states that Boelter assumed the rat population of Great Britain to be 40,000,000 —i.e., about one to e>ich acre cultivated, or one per head of the human population. He further assumed that each rat on an average occasioned a daily loss of £d; on these assumptions the tojal damage done by rats in that country amounts to £15,000,000. This estimate does not take into account the damage done by rats on ships, but relates solely to the rural and urban activities of these animals. All available statistics stress the great economic loss occasioned by the depredations of rats, and that the control of the rat population is very important for economic considerations as well as for reasons of public health. This is an important aspect that should be borne in mind by shipping companies and all authorities responsible for the storage of foodstuffs.

Legislation exists in many countries much on the -same lines to guard against plague-infected rats from ships. The Boston (UJS.A.) regulations provide (a) The owner, agent, or master of any Vessel lying at any wharf is made responsible for the disposal, in ratproof receptacles, of all garbage or other food for rats from the. vessel, and for preventing its being thrown overboard. (b) The ownei's, agents, or others in charge of all vessels, and those in charge of all wharves, are made responsible for preventing the storing or accumulation of any foodstuffs or other material on or about any wharf in such a manner as to furnish a food-supply or breeding-place for rats, (c) Tn eftse any vessel which arrives from a. port regarded by the Government Health authorities as infected or possibly infected with plague is permitted to come to wharf, the master of the vessel and the one in charge of the wharf at which the vessel lies are made responsible for the following conditions: The vessel must be kept breasted off at least 7ft from the wharf; ail lines or ropes from the’vessel to the shore shall be supplied with effective rat-guards; all freight and passenger gangways shall be removed when not commonly in use; if it becomes known to the master of the vessel or- to the superintendent of the wharf that rats are reaching shore in cargo that is being unloaded it shall be immediately 7 reported to the Health Commissioner of the city. In France a vessel arriving from an infected port is subject to medical inspection, deratization, and quarantine of vessel and passengers in certain csses if necessary. In New Zealand the legislation which relates to this matter is contained in the following sections of the Health Act, 1920: (1) Section 26, which defines as a nuisance -under paragraph (c), “Where any premises (including any accumulation or deposit thereon) are in such a state as to harbor or to be likely to harbor rats or other vermin.” And again under paragraph (i), "Where any animal or bird, or any carcase or part of a carcase, is so kept or allowed to remain as to be dangerous to health or offensive.” (2) Section 74, which throws upon Harbor Boards responsibility for—(a) “The prevention and abatement of nuisance#, on any wharves or tidal lands or tidal waters within the harbor; (b) the disposal of refuse and other offensive matter from the wharves or tidal lands, or from «hips for the time being in the harbor.” (3) Section- 132, paragraph (r), which gives power to make regulations by Order-in-Council “for the destruction of rats, mice and other vermin, whether on land or on board any ship in a New Zealand port; for the abolition or prevention of conditions favorable to vermin.” Regulations have been prepared in pursuance of the lastmentioned section, the general purport of which is to prevent by every practical means the migration of rats from ships, and to provide for efficient fumigation of ships when necessary.. The Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, 1919, makes provision in Great Britain and Ireland for the destruction of these animals, and defines the responsibilities of individuals, masters of vessels, and powers of various authorities. Section 1 of that Act provides that ayy person who shall fail to take such steps as may from time to time be and reasonably practicable for the destruction of rats and mice on or in any land on which he is the occupier,.or. for preventing such land from becoming infested with rats and mice, shall be Hable to certain stipulated penalty. In regard to methods to be adopted to : eliminate rats, they may be classified inI to preventive and destructive. PreI ventivi* measures as laid down by Hihton should include—(l) Removal and destruction of rubbish; (2) protection of 1 food-supplies; (3) rat-proofing of buildlings; (4) protection of drains; (o) fumigation of ships, and protection of quays and railways, etc. Destruction is carried .out by fumigation, poisoning, trapping, '*tnd the use of natural enemies such as

certain breeds of cats and dogs. Cyanidegas has been used extensively for deratisation on board, of vessels in Italy, and especially in the United States of America. Other fumigants such as sulphurdioxide gas. carbon monoxide, phosgenogas, and chloropicrine have been tried, with varyng degrees o-f success. Any of these fumigants should, however, be used only with the most careful supervision, more particularly As stated by the writer of the review in the publication above referred, to, trapping and poisoning are methods of primary importance when rat-destruction is undertaken only as an anti-plague measure. There are various patterns of traps on the market, which can be used with a good deal of success if handled and set properly. The odor from human handling must be avoided by the use of gloves, by smearing the hands with some essential oil such as oil of aniseed, or by flaming the trap after it is set. Researches in InditL have established the fact that the best-known substance with which to bait a trap or to serve as an excipient for poisons is a piece of pure dough freshly prepared from the flour which is in common use by the people. The value of public co-operation against rats is evidenced in the report of the Citizens’ Health Committee on eradicating plague from San Francisco in 1908. The visitation of the plague to that city evidently awoke in the lethargic minds of the citizens a quickening conception of their civic responsibility, resulting in a deadly crusade against the rat and a general sanitary “spring cleaning,” with its usual beneficial effects. Thus the visit of some of the plagues of Egypt has a compensating aftermath; and often, alas, proves the only method of awakening in a drowsy, indolent and insanitary community some realisation of community responsibility. At this moment, when the bubonic plague has gained admission to Australia, it behoves all authorities throughout this Dominion to be especially vigilant and energetic in carrying out elimination methods against the rat. Once the plague has gained a foothold in any country the cost of stamping out the infection will be far in excess of an reasonable preventive measures.