MILLIONS OF MICE

Nelson Evening Mail, 15 May 1917, Page 5

MILLIONS OF MICE

AUSTRALIAN PLAGUE., - BRED TN STACKED WHEAT. The latest reports indicate that the plague' of -mice in the wheat districts of Australia continues a grave source of destruction. The . Sydney Morning • Herald states that there-are millions fcf mice in the Riverina, and on the southwestern slopes. In -Victoria and South Australia the conditions are, 'if 'anything, worse than in New South Wales, a,nd the Government of South Australia Has offered a reward to anybody who. will find a remedy—"-something that will' kill them without damaging the wheat, Travellers who have to come' to Syd?, tfey from the country say that the position, there is most serious. "The; mice rire - now- attacking the outside iof the stacks, and the latter' are threatening to fall. Originally the pest kept well inside the stacks, but now, either through pressure or because* the inside is getting unhealthy, they are coming outside, and when thov cut the outside tiers of bags the stack is, unsafe. ■ i The plague is showing -itself in Sydney, and is increasing' alarmingly» from , day to day. For some time past trucks Rearing produce from the wheat-growing districts halve ' been bringing hundred* of mice daily . At the-Alexandria goods' yard it was found that several truck loads of chaff were infested with the pest, with the result that from 5' cwt to • lOcwt of the produce were 'loßt through damaged bags. - In. one case hundreds of mice had died in a truokj while hundreds of others escaped. ,As the vicinity is thickly populated, it- is possible that once the mice spread they will be hard to eradicate. <-' •■•„ ' - Owing to the lack of shipping, space; creat quantities of bagged wheat have Been stored in stacks at tions. 'Some- of the stacks have been standing-for over a year. According to a recent return there were still -o\er 10 000,000' sacks of wheat at country stations in New South Wales, and nearly 3,000;000 sacks in Sydney . m There.is little doubt that the field mice entered into- possession in autumn or early win-ter-of 1916, because the stacks at once - gave them a place where a living was to be easily obtained, and at the same time . afforded-a secure home. Moreover, in the middle of the stacks there -was warmth, and the roofs over the tops kept out tho wet. During last harvest thev did not venture far from their hoies because of the rains but jhan the" weather . became dry and warm, gome of the mice emigrated to the news. Th"y are spreading oyer the country like y a flood! and causing damage and annoyance incalculable.