THE PULLULATING RAT.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 250, 21 October 1919, Page 6

THE PULLULATING RAT.

DISEASE AND DAMAGE. •WARE BREEDING SEASON. In the spring a young rat's fancy lightly turns to family affaire. The rigours of the winter, and tho food stringency associated with the cold months being passed in Rodcntville the inhabitants forsake the ascetic habits of that eeaeon and prepare to hold hi{r!i revel arnonjr the "new season's goods. Mrs Rat will shortly he removing the reproach of the empty cradle, and the naturally predatory instinct of the bread winner will he intensified by the knowledge that he will for Home time have three or four extra mouths to feed. What the rats and mice can do -when they set their minds, or rather their teeth, to it was exemplified last season in Australia, where they played havoc With Mr. Hughes' gigantic wheat heapß. In other words it is time householders set their traps in order, and organised a strict blockade of the enemy. Auckland is fairly free from rats co far as can be judged, but the Public Health Department does not relax its vigilance, and from time to time jogs the memory of local bodies and harbour boards about the necessity of keeping down these peste, not only in the interests of health, hut from an" economical point of view as well. The amount of damage done to merchandise, especially in warehouses in the vicinity of the waterfront, runs into thousands of pounds a year. The firm's cat does a certain amount of night-rang-ing among the hags and bales, but a more systematic campaign is necessary every now and again. Mow that thp breeding season is at hand, householders should Ree that the family garbage tin has a tight-fitting lid. and th.it nothing is spilled in the neighbourhood. The tin is a favourite spot for the rat in search of commissariat stores, and nine times out of ten there will be a nest somewhere round about. Rat runs should be blocked up. and if the domestic cat is too well fed to cure for a diet of rat flesh, and traps don't keep them in check, poison should lie used. The deadly phospheriw and strychnine are too dangerous for some households, but there are other banes which are pafer to handle, and as effective. But I one of the best ways of preventing the I spread of rats in the ordinary household is to see that nothing is left lying round for him to eat. The clearing-up weeks that have been organise?! in various parts have undoubtedly done a great deal of good, says th* Public Health Department, but in the next few months householders should be specially on the alert for the rapacious rodent, who not only wastes good merchandise, tout may carry disease. A man is kept by the Department doing nothing else but dissecting rats and making microscope elides which are examined for the presence of plague germß, but since the last plague case about seven or eight years ago nothing of the kind has been discovered in Auckland.