RAT WAR BEGINS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 198, 15 May 1908, Page 8

RAT WAR BEGINS.

GREAT - CAMPAIGN OPENED . AT-' THE ' LONDON DOCKS. V'.. ;V ; "One..estimate ;.bfV the .dapiago. VdonVby rats during . the, course ofe'a year, has ■ pro-, duced a; total/of:.il0,0P0,0Cl0. Froni exhaustive' observations,, however,;, which'-- I have made throughout... the'. country,; ; I.' ■ should place :tlio' figure ,-at . .'£12,000,000 - or. - <jve)i £14,000)000. 'The' reports of.-'my. .travellers show, .in fact, that-only.' two industries are really immune "from.. these •' pests—those ■ of the stoheinason/atid. the / ironfdmide'r.' , r • The above .observation was • made by; Mr.C.. A.' ' Euru, who .with.:', his • "rat. • exterminator"'. on,March;-.31; -.commenced a campaign'- to' free 'tho London and- India docks, at; Tilbury from!'.a' veritable ■ plague of rats. --.The 'damage, 'done ,'by rats at) ,tjhe docks is extraordinary.- - They gnaw through sacks of grain and spill the contents;' attack bales of; paper, ■ in' which they tear ragged holes,; and' rip gaps in cbnsignmqiits v of cloth and other goods,rendering: : lengths of material: entirely,, 'valueless!;."' ; ' There are.'27 sheds' at; the' London", and India dbek's,. 'each, of which stajids upoii-an acre' .of ground'..'. An." .'old 'm'an<:;nanlbd;..La-iV-roncoy- who. for; .ten- year's ondeavoufe'd, .to check:'th'o; increasing .horde 'of rats:by means of traps and'..Various poisons,''calculates that burrowing under the .floors of.each'shed 'are at least-2000-rodents'. ■' " j .Upon this'estimate, which.:is considered a conservative onei -tho' rat population' s of'tho docks'is "54,000.. .Experience lias-proved—so far as figures ;gofrthat"oach rat docs . damago.to tho\estent .of at least on(j.. farthiiig; a day. ..Thus. tho. -rats. at the r docks <are, responsible' for ;nearly. £60 .worth /of ; damage a day,-or;,in;round,figures;.£3ooo a year.' ..■ • Tho. 'remedy iby which: it 'is .hoped to extorminatd ...this. rat ; : .army, .in '.a' space ;.of six, months/is. not' in .the, nature, of n poison.' Potatoes • are .infected •• with; ,a -tasteless. germ particularly', 'deadly to \rats .niicej ...and then placed.';iiv'tho '" rat-runs."-, The' rats after eating the'.'potatoes'. contract--a wasting- disease, .■, Thi?, ■in ' addition;' to. proving fatal .at the, end. .of thrp.e ;or,.four- is jiiglily coiitegibus to. other rodeinta.j.