CEASELESS WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 October 1938, Page 6

CEASELESS WAR

DESTRUCTION BY RATS. JOHANNESBURG’S FOOD LOSSES The depredations of Johannesburg’s army of rats cost the city about £190,000 a year in foodstuffs alone, according to an official estimate of the anti-rodent measures staff of the Public Health Department. Day after day for the last 18 years a band of men, consisting of two health inspectors and nine rat catchers, have waged war against the rodents and they are confident that they are slowly but surely gaining the upper hand. Above their work in saying thousands of pounds annually, however, lies their greater mission in keeping the city free of bubonic plague and in this- they have been entirely successful. There has not been a case reported within the city limits since 1918. RODENT-PROOFING. They are gaining the upper hand because of their intensive efforts in striking at the homes and hiding places of the rats. Last year 300 odd buildings were made rodent-proof while every new building has to be certi'fied by the Medical Officer of Health. Rodent-proofing, which involves the eradication of all inter-spaces and conditions which might provide a harbourage for rats costs anything from £5 to £3OOO according to the size and construction of the building. In the year 1936-37, 27,611 rats and 2,135 mice were killed in the city. Large numbers are regularly sent to the Medical Research for testing against bubonic plague. The railway yards at Kazerne have always provided a danger spot with trucks of produce constantly coming and going. A few years ago the Railway authorities spent £23,000 on preventive measures, increasing the staff and taking greater precautions in gassing the trucks before they leave their destination. On arrival they are thoroughly inspected by an official of the Health Department and his fox terriers. There are now 17 rat-catch-ing dogs attached to the department. • THE PROCEDURE. When the department is called out to deal with a building or to advise the proprietors which it is always ready to do, it makes a detailed survey of the premises for inter-spaces between the floors and ceilings or double partitions. After the building has been gassed, iron sheeting and wire mesh are used at the floor angles to prevent ingress by the rodents. After a building has been made rodent-proof, the greatest danger to the owners of another invasion lies in the transfer of merchandise to and from the storerooms. The danger’ can be reduced to a minimum by careful examination and stacking of the goods and not allowing piles of rubbish to lie about the floor.

The war against the rats also continues , unceasingly in the three-mile safety belt outside the city, which is in charge of the veld staff.