THE WAR ON RATS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 81, 5 April 1911, Page 6

THE WAR ON RATS.

( SOME FACTS AND SUGGESTIONS. We have received the following correspondence on this subject:— ) (To the Editor.) Sir,—White Walking round by Wake-field-street this; morning I noticed nuin- , bers of dead rats on the streets'; evidently thrown out by people'from their dwell-1 , ings. It is quite a common thing to see dead rata in our streets and lanes, and it is high time that the inspectors were j stirred up by the Borough Council health department, and warned to be more active. Discipline is what we want. Every house, and especially the back yards, etc., should be visited at least once every quarter, and in every case where there has been a breach of the law tbe offender should be prosecuted. There is far too much laxity in these matters, and it is high time those in authority woke up to a sense of their duty and responsibility. We must inevitably pay the penalty if we remain any longer indifferent.—l Sin, etc., ANTI-PLAGUE. (To the Editor.) Sif ,—Well do I remember When the Sydney plague scare was oh a tew years since! At that time we did any amount of talking relative to rats here in New Zealand.. We at that time contemplated killing hundreds and thousands of them. After a very short period of time, though, the whole affair blew over. To-day we are again killing rats in that good old-fashioned way. Now, if we only united (the Newmarket Council included), and advo- • cated a thorough, and compulsory system of drainage, we would be doing a thousand times more good than were we to be talking rats from now till Doomsday. Our insanitary W.C.'sl and who, I wonder > could keep such places sanitary, thickly scattered as they are to-day all over the suburbs? 1 am convinced . that it is in such places where poor Mr. Rat himself, during his night-1 ly .peregrinations, contracts diseases,' which, When in different surroundings, neither his skin nor flesh would be hoir to. Now, Pr. Makgill, Newmarket Council?—in fact; the whole cabooser— amalgamate, as it were, and the day would not then be far distant When we would, have . a thorough drainage throughout our suburbs, upon the completion of Which, I venture to predict, we would have acquired a signal and never-to-he-forgotten victory over fevers, measles, plague, etc. I will go a step' further, and say we would in all probability find Mr. Rat in such improved surroundings as to be a fairly decent, if not respectable, citizen.—l am, etc., .'_.•; j • NEWMARKET. (To the Editor.) Sir, —Now that the Auckland Harbour Board have at last awakened up to the fact that rats, are amongst the most undesirable inhabitants of our city, I , would like'to endeavour to also awaken the members of the borough councils and road boards to the same very urgent fact, They should follow in the footsteps of ' the acting-chairman of the Harbour Board, and convene a special meeting of their . members to consider the advisability of joining in the :-"crußßd r e. , '.: , lt' would be at least one good cause, in,, which all could surely j ijoiri: hands. : I live in:the Olnvtree Hill • Road Board district; :my ground adjoining the One-tree Hill demesne,, and I can confidently aßSert that nowhere in the suburbs of this city— and I have lived in*, a good few of them—have I been so much annoyed with Tats as I am, it. present. .It Would afford mc ;, *Pfi_PwJWp. *° see our worthy chairman taking this matter up, and using his influence to get his Board to join in, the.A'Crusaae." I would further suggest that some of the "experts" infonri the public,.through your columns, ■of -the safest, ahi most effective destroyer to use on these rodents. If yon will be so good as to give this letter space.in your paper, I will be obliged. am, etc., s.HJP,

j '-~;. Wo the Editor.) Sir.-rAfter reading the lengthy article in to-night's paper re "Death to the Rat," and the advisability of concerted action, I should like to make a slight suggestion or two re helping to exterminate the rodents. Will all shopkeepers lay poison in their shops on Thursday night, the night before Good Friday? If any rati die in an unaccessible place the unpleasant smell Will disappear before the following Tuesday. Also; will every resident along the water front do the same oh his own land, placing the poison where nb child Would be able to get it? In this small way a great number of these ve?mln would ho doubt be destroyed.—l am etc, . WATER FRONTAGE. ' April 4, Itflh (To the Editor.) Sir,—Now that the subject of rats Is so prominently toeing brought before us, and rightly so, I wish to point oat that our marine Suburb, Devonport, has its share of them. In fact, they happen, to 'be rather .plentiful just now, and it would be advisable if a crusade, against them was started this side of the Water. All, the business premises should be inspected and poison laid with no sparing hand. My neighbours have been complaining, and this morning I saw tWo in my own garden. I think the Council should supply poison free to those who ire willing to help in the destruction ol these pests.—l am, etc, j R-SID_NT<

(T6 Hie idttdr j Sir,—NoW that the Harbour Board and local bodies are waking up to the fact that something must be done in the way .of cleaning up the city if we are to prevent the spread of the above disease, perhaps it would be advisable to mention the state of affairs that,has been allowed ■to.,ex»£ and still is existing in many parts' of the city and suburbs. As one whose business has brought him in contact with residents in -all parts of the city and suburbs I have been in a position enabling mc to see the scandalous condition of tilings in regard to sanitation Filth is allowed to accumulate in all parts, while in the outskirts of the city anyone who cares can run whatever poultry he Ekes regardless of the consequences, it is a common thing to see a person with a section hardly big enough to swing a cat round, having a few head of poultry and a fowl house. We all know that rats are the introducers of many dread diseases, bat it is not feasible I to think that these diseases are imported solely from other parte.. We have proof of this contention at the present, four oases of plague having occurred recently from causes purely local. If we are going to keep our back yards in such a condition as to encourage the, rodents, then we deserve ail we get, and mm long as the local bodies aTe so lax over their I duties, this state of affairs will exist. It seems out of all reason to expect a few inspectors to do justice to their department or to the pub—a, and I think it » Mghdtfcrw mtmktuunuum.twM _«-»-,

gaged permanently to see that the sanitary regulations are rigidly, enforced'in all parte, for it must W apparent to'all that cleanliness, comes first in regard to the health of a city.—l am, etc., '-•-.' __ C*«EANI-NES&