A CHAPTER ON RATS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 224, 1 August 1864, Page 6

A CHAPTER ON RATS.

[r rum the " Dunediu Daily Times."] Of all the nuisances of Duncdin there is noil.' greater than that of the rats, which, to tlie co.-t of all j proprietors ot edibles, infest every store and house in t tiie city. I'lui.r is a very valuable article just now ; j but whether the t.rinds be worth .CIS or a i ton, it is tiii tlie Mime to the rat.-.. One u.nv block up I holes and lay poUou or trap.-, but. the depredations | still continue. Bags of ticur are cut on into, and i ha'if their contents oestroyed or rendered unsaleable, j and every other edible suitable to tlie palate of the 1 ioiig-iaiied thieves is equally open to their attacks, j I'-vei-y baker m Duncdin could 110 doubt tell how lunch he io.-cs per annum by the devastations of rats. '1 hey eat his llour, his bread and biscuits. Aior are they particular. With equal gusto thoy will devour larinitceous food or Inciter matches. Alany a disastrous lire has been caused by the indulgence in ilie luxury of phosphorous by the rats ot llie building. One may keep a whole regiment ol eats, or even of Skye terriers, but it is ot' 110 use. tor every rat killed in battle a hundred come to his luneral. \ou may use the most infallible of traps, but after a solitary capture or two, the door of the I apparatus stands invitingly open without result. \our rat is not to tie caught—any more than a bird —with eliail. \ou may exhaust your ingenuity in devising templing bails; you may frizzle the tilticst of tit - ijits ot tiacon or cheese ; you may go through the whole catalogue of " vermin killers," but even that arch-enemy to objectionable animal life, Harper '1 welvctrccs, has not a compound that can gull the very wide-awake nils of Otago. It, is of 110 use lav'ing poison, for the only victim wili be vour favourite dog or cat —possibly your youngest, child. But what is to be done i lour goods arc devoured, your premises (lumimcil, and your rest disturbed by 1111 army ol little monsters which you cannot, get rid of. Ao other animal could practice with impunity the pranks the rats indulge in. '1 he worst of it is that it is of little advantage catching them —or at least that is the prevailing opinion. i.!evoud affording a little excitement to the admirers of lilliputiaii terriers which can destroy so many rats per minute, the (taplured rat is a very useless and uninviting acquisition. Hut why should rats be exec] ted lrom tlie destructive intlucnces of human appetiie ? If ruts wore eatable —and so they are in .-onie countries—they would, like many other annuals, become scarce, and ac 1111111tisatiou societies would include in their programme the cultivation ol that useful animal, tho IS T orway rat. Hie human palate is capable of so much cultivation, that har.ilv a limit can bo placed to its scope. We eat what to the peoples of other countries and tastes would be au abomination. -And i:ifr ret wit, the Chinese luxuries, for instance, would be apt to disgust Huropeiins. tstill it is hopeless to suppose that any amount of arguments would reconcile people to lastc the llavor of rats, however delicately cooked. tint, there are other ways in which ruts mav be economised. Do you know, dear young lady, that your ducks ot six and a quarter gioves may possibiv have graced the body of one of our long tailed friends ? And yet such is the cusii. It is 11 fact that a great proportion ot Paris gloves are manufactured from' rat skins, so important a branch of business is the sate oi these skins that, public companies exist for tlie capture ami ultimate eomvrsioii of rats. \ou are itware that; C hicago is a great grain depot; ol course, it is also a faiuuritc haunt of llio Aorlals. 'Lite good folks of Chicago, alter trying every possible means ol extirpating their noxious visitors, without success, have instituted a public company, having for its objects the capture of rats, the curing of their skins,' and their sale to Parisian glove makers ! Now, it the people of Chicago can thus u work the oracle" and get rid of their rats, why should Otugo be ail exception ? W'c have the finest of rats, and no lack ot numbers. There is only required the necessary stall' of cuts, dogs, or traps. Tiie capital would not be much, and, doubtless, (or so promisiinia.speculation, the Antarctic Bank Corporation (very limited), would come forward liberally and advance the requisite funds. At any rate the mutter is worth consideration, and we recommend it to our enterprising anil speculative citizens.