A CHAPTER ON RATS.

Otago Witness, Issue 658, 9 July 1864, Page 17

A CHAPTER ON RATS.

[Communicated.] Of all the nuisances of Dunedin there is none greater than that of the rats, which, to the coat of all proprietors of edibles, infest every store and house in the city. Flour is a very valuable article just nov ; bat whether the best brands be worth £15 or £30 a ton, it is all the same to the rats. One may block up holes and lay poison or traps, bui the depredations still continue. Bags of flour are eaten into, and half their contents destroyed oi rendered unsaleable, and every other edible suitable to the palate of the long-tailed thieves is equally open to their attacks. Every baker in Dunedin could no doubt tell how much he loses per annum by the devastations of rats. They eat his flour, his bread and biscuits. Nor are they particular. With equal gusto they will devour farinaceous food or lucifer matches. Many a disastrous fire has been caused by the indulgence in the luxury of phosphorous hy the rats of the building. One may keep a whole regiment of cats, or even of Skye terriera, but it is of no u^e. For every rat killed in battle a hundred come to his funeral You may use the most infallible of traps, but after a solitary capture or two, the door of the apparatus stands invitingly open without result. Your rat is not to be caught any more than a bird — with chaff. You" may exhaust your ingenuity in devising tempting baits ; you may frizzle the tittiest of tit- bits of bacon or cheese ; you may go through the whole catalogue of " vermin killers," but even that archenemy to objectionable animal life, Harper Twelvetrees, has not a compound that can gull the very wideawake rats of Otago. It is of no use laying 'poison, for the only victjm will be your favorite dog or cat— possibly your youngest child. But what is to be dine? Your goods are devoured, your premises damaged, and your rest disturbed by an army of little monsters which you cannot get rid of. No other animal could practice with impunity the pranks the rats indulge in. The worst of it is that it is of little advantage catching them

•—or at least that is the prevailing opinion, Beyond affording a little excitement to the admirers of lilliputian terriers which can destroy so many rats per minute, the captured rat is a very useless and uninviting acquisition. But why should rats be exceptei from the destructive influences of human appetite ? If rats were eatable — and so they are in some countries — they would like many other animals become scarce, and acclimatisation societies would include in their programme, the cultivation of that useful animal, the Norway rat. The human palate is capable of so much cultivation, that hardly a limit can be placed to its scope. We eat what to the peoples of other countries and tastes would be an abomination. And vice versa The Chinese luxuries for instance, would be apt to disgust Europeans. Still it is hopeless to suppose that any amount of arguments would reconcile people to test the flavor of rats, however delicately cooked.

But there are other ways in which rats may be economised. Do you know, dear young lady, that your ducks of six and a quarter gloves may possibly have graced the body of one of onr long tailed friends ? And yet such is the case. It is a fact that a great proportion of Paris gloves are manufactured from rat skins. Nay, so important a branch of business is the sale of these skins that public companies exist for the capture and, ultimate conversion of rats. You are aware that Chicago is a great grain depot ; of course, it is also a favorite haunt of the NorwegioAmerican rats. The good folks of Chicago, after trying every possible means of 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, if the people of Chicago can thus " work the oracle" and get rid of their rats, why should Otago be an exception ? We have the finest of rats, and no lack of numbers. There is only required the necessary staff of cats, dogs, or traps. The capital would not be much, and, doubtless, for po promising a speculation, the Antarctic Bank Corporation (very limited), would come forward liberally and advance the requisite funds. At any rate the matter is worth consideration, and we recommend it to our enterprising and speculative citizens.