TRAGEDY OF LORD HOWE ISLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18349, 13 September 1921, Page 8

TRAGEDY OF LORD HOWE ISLAND.

GRIM FIGHT AGAINST RATS. (Feom Oue Own Coehespondent.) SYDNEY, September 5. Latest advices received from Lard Howe Island—a beautiful spot in the Pacific miles north-east from Sydney, where for three years the inhabitants have been almost hopelessly struggling against a frightful plague of rats—indicate that a thick covert has been recently cleared away, and oyer 12,000 rats killpd. It is now hoped that it will be possible to get the pest under control. Lord Howe Island, which is a dependency of New South Wales, has been ft European settlement nearly as long as Australia itself, and it has become famous for general reasons. It was the place where William Charles Wentworth, the famous patriot and statesman, who framed the first Australian Constitution, spent his boyhood; it is , a very agreeable place to visit, and it produces a particular kind of table palm which lias been much sought after all over the world. Dut three years ago a steamer was wrecked on the island, i and from it there escaped a swarm of rats. These multiplied with incredible rapidity, and they have threatened to make life there impossible for every living creature save themselves. They nave checked, the breeding of birds by devouring their eggs; they have chewed and ruined much valuable palm seed; they Imvo seriously affected cultivation (particularly of fruit) on the island; and between whiles they have eaten largely of shell snails. Ine dense nature of the undergrowth has rendered the extirpation of the rodents an exceedingly difficult matter, but tho problem has been tackled determinedly, with the result that the plucky islanders begin to see the end of their troubles in sight.