BUBONIC PLAGUE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIII, Issue 13714, 3 April 1905, Page 8

BUBONIC PLAGUE.

ANOTHER CASE AT NEWCASTLE. United Press As:ociation—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. SYDNEY, April 1. Another case of plague at Newcastle is reported. NEWCASTLE, April 2. The plague patient is dead. The " Sydney Morning Herald " of March 23 Buys":— The Board of Health has decided to recommend the Government to revive the payment of capitation fees for the capture of rats and mice. It is suggested .that .for a short period, at all events, Cd per rat and Id per mouse be paid, in order to induce a vigorous crusade against.those rodents. The.se fees are double those formerly paid. Dr Ashburton Thompson explained ye ! ;terd:».y that the Board's recommendation could;not take effect until the Premier returned from Newcastle, and gave the necessary authority for the 'money to be paid. Even then the capitation fees would:not come into operation until the dismantled incinerating furnace had been put into working order. According to Dr Thompson, plague-infected rats are now being found in Sussex Street premises, and in the vicinity of the Darling Harbour wharves. They are being caught at twelve different" points, stretching from the gasworks to the head of Darling Harbour. This is considered a serious position of affairs, hence the desire -*of the Board to enlist the help of the public in a vigorous crusade against rats and mice.