THE RAT MENACE

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3479, 15 October 1926, Page 10

THE RAT MENACE

A MOhFIRTt ffOßhn PIiA«IJE. MYSTERJO L'S COMMUNITIES. j Wellington is troubled by rats I Wellington is not alone. The rat problem htrs been a source of trouble in every large municipality for years. | and the damage caused by the pests ]is incalculable. In the Dominion and the Old Country alike, the.seri|ous nature of the menace is recognis;|ed, but everywhere it is found to he lan almost superhuman task to exter- | urinate the rodentu, and it is only by the exercise of continual vigilance that the annual toll of loss, destrncI tion. and disease is kept within rea- . jsonablc limits. “Rat week,” —a systematised ami . I synchronised attempt by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Ag-

riculture, working in conjunction with local authorities and private owners, in the United Kingdom—is observed in town and country alike, but in many rat-infested areas it is necessary to employ the services of professional rat-catchers throughout the year. This is particularly the casin the district of London known as "Dockland,” a widespread area along both banks of the River Thames. The warehouses of grain and foodstuffs are the happy hunting grounds of the. rat army, and here the rat-catchers find plenty of work before them. The trouble in Loudon, and indeed in all modern cities, is that the subterranean network of sewers, cableways, and "tubes” affords a scries of runways for rats which cannot possibly be blocked, and the pestilential creatures find their way about from district to district and from building to bbuilding with a facility which is at times almost heartroaking to owners of stock and property. The rats have a curious habit of suddenly appearing in a block of buildings where they have not been seen tor many months, and it is indeed a difficult job to expel them when once they have made their home in a factory or warehouse where food is to be found. The rat-catchers, working with ferrets, dogs, poison, and smoke, have been known to effect a complete clearance, but unless the warfare is kept up the rats will return. Theim name is legion, their fecundity is amazing. The estimate of damage caused annually in the United Kingdom alone is £15,000,000, but this is quite Un approximate figure, and the total loss is doutbelss more. Movement by Water. Many strange tales are told of the movement of rat communities. The ■writer happened to be at Greenwich one warm afternoon some years ago when word went round that a large body of rats was swimming down the Thames. The report was perfectly true; thousands of the animals were i moving from one building to another, and it was by no moans a pleasant sight to see the swarming mass —some swimming, others running along the bank—make its 'day down. This sudden migration is by no means ! a rare occurrence, but, the precise |cause of it is not known. For some reason or other a rat community will suddenly leave a building which it has infested for months Or even years. 1 However, the occupiers of property do not stop to theorise when such a move loccurs: all hands turn out to frighten the rkts away and prevent them from | landing.