Death To Rats And Mosquitoes

Northern Advocate, 24 July 1943, Page 4

Death To Rats And Mosquitoes

A reminder to local bodies i.hal rats and mosuuiiocs, always a menace, have since Ihe war extended to the f-acitic assumed a greater importance, is being made by the Department of Health. The .Mangonui County Council at Its monthly meeting received a letter from tiro Health Department asking' what steps it was taking to deal with these two forms of disease carriers, and giving a number of suggestions for their ■ control. "The possibility ol’ planes or ships bringing in infected mosquitoes from the Pacific Islands and of ships bringing in infected rats cannot be ignored and the reduction of ihe native mosquito and rat population and the removal of breeding places would considerably help to prevent tile spread of disease such as plague and malaria, wore such diseases; introduced,'’ stated the .Medical Officer for Health. Dr Dixon. Advice to Residents in the accompanying circular of suggestions, the following advice is given: The first tiling necesary for the control of rats is a thorough cleaning up and keeping clean of individual premises to destroy any harbourage that may exist. In stores where rats have found access, they will rapidly nest among undisturbed sacks of grain. Hour. etc., and these should periodically lie restacked, and always stacked in such a way that eats can get access to all parts.. Before and after the cleaning up. poisoning and trapping liv break-hack traps should be resorted to. For trapping. baits not normally found on the premises should bo used, fur instance, smoked fish, toasted bacon or cheese. Baited tinsel, traps and impoismied baits should be set for awhile until the material is freely taken. Then the traps properly set and poisoned hails laid for a short period only, as the rats get cunning and avoid the traps or baits after they see their fellows caught, or dying off. After a spell. Ihe same procedure should be followed, with perhaps different baits if the rats are still numerous. Rat Proof Premises

Premises of all kinds should he as far as possible rat-proofed. All measures of rtil control anti prevention should lie specially applied to food'premises. Regarding mosquitoes, a clean up of all rubbish is again indicated and old tins, old tyres or anything capable of bolding water in which mosquitoes can breed should lie emptied and if unusable destroyed. Containers of water whether for human consumption of for (ire fighting should be covered to prevent the mosquitoes gelling to the surface of the water. Depressions in the ground capable of bolding wafer should be drained off. Larger areas of water should be stocked with the ntilive bully fish which eagerly devour the mosquito larvae. Ornamental ponds can he stocked with ear)) or goldfish.

'Plte clearing of the channels and the verges of streams assists in the quicker run-off of water. Smaller pools should lie dosed with 'light oils if obtainable, or sprinkled with sawdust soaked with old crankcase oil. 'Plte sawudst sinks and the thin oil film rises to the surface, preventing the mosquito from getting access to the surface and destroying any larvae that are in the pools. The council agreed that the greatest effort should he made to control the pests and asked that public attention lie drawn to preventative measures.