RAT DESTRUCTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25177, 14 April 1945, Page 6

RAT DESTRUCTION

CAMPAIGN IN AUCKLAND DISTRIBUTION OF BAITS The annual campaign against rats in the metropolitan area will take place during the week beginning Monday, April "30. The campaign is being sponsored by the City Council, which has asked other local bodies and commercial organisations to co-operate. All who have so far acknowledged the approach have agreed to take part. As in past years, hundreds of thousands of baits will be prepared and distributed free to all who desire them. Distribution will be made from the Town Hall, local body offices-and leading grocery stores; Posters and literature" are being prepared emphasising how rats endanger health and destroy property. The Headmasters' Association lias been asked to arrange suitable talks in schools on the subject. A total of 670.000 baits were distributed in the metropolitan .area during a campaign of one week last year. Of that total the city supplied 442,000. A further 105.656 were provided in the city during the following three months, compared with 206.(20 during the corresponding period of the previous year. The reduced demand last year, it is Claimed, reflects the effectiveness of the wide distribution in 1943. An average of 150 rats are trapped weekly in the inner business area and on the waterfront by a rat-catcher employed by the City Council.