TRAGEDY OF LORD HOWE ISLAND.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17248, 12 September 1921, Page 8

TRAGEDY OF LORD HOWE ISLAND.

♦ OfiDX ZTOHT AGAINST BATS. (FBOH ottb own corbespokdento SYDNEY, September 5. • Latest ad rices received from Lord Howe Island—a beautiful spot in the Pacific .00 miles north-east from Sydr.ey. where for three years the inhabitants have been almost hopelessly struggling against a frightful plague of rats —indicate that a thick covert has been recently cleared away, and over 12,000 rats killed. It is now hoped that it will be possible to get the * pest under control. Lord Howe Island, which is a dependency of New Sftuth Wales, has been a European settlement nearly as long as Australia itself, and it has become famous for general reasons. It was the place where William Charles Wontworth, the famous patriot and statesman who framed Australia's first constitution spent his boyhood; it is a very agreeable place to visit; and it produces a particular kind of table palm which has been much sought after all over the world. But three years ago a steamer was wrecked off the island, and from it there escaped a swarm of rats. These multiplied with incredible rapiditv and they have threatened to make lifo there impossible for everv living creaturo save themselves. They have checked the breeding of birds by devouring their eggs; they have chewed and ruined much valuable palmseed; they have seriously affected cultivation (particnlarlv of fruit on the island; and between whiles they have eaten largely of shell vnails. The dense nature of the undergrowth has rendered the extirpation of the rodents an .exceedingly diffiwit matier, but the problem has been tackled determinedly, with the result that the plucky islanders begin to see the end of their troubles in sight.