Poverty Bay herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1912. "SWAT THE FLY."

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12752, 2 May 1912, Page 4

Poverty Bay herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1912. "SWAT THE FLY."

When the Gisborne Borough Council has insisted, as we, .hope it will insist., on the erection of wire gauze screens at various food depots where flies are wont to congregate m legions, only part of its duty m safeguarding the public health * ay ill have been performed. Whilst 'h* may be barred out of butchers' shops | and confectionery stores, the irrepressible little food "scavenger will still find ampl-3 opportunities of coming m contact with _ humans and the ?ood that they consume, B and no public security against this [carrier of disease, will be obtained until war has been waged directly and indirectly upon the fly himself. We have referred on Several occasions to the necessity of creating a clean citj*, and made no : apology K iov returning to th«j subject, for ■it is one of vital issua to every household m ' the community. Let. lis tell something of what is being done m America to combat the evil or the ;fly. The war on the house fly i.s 1 sadd by a writer m" World's Work to ' share with the Presidential cohipaign the, interest^- ahd .of the Aceriean people at- the present time, Some- ] where iii the neighborhood of a billion .flies ,were killed inj: the xarious;. caiu- ' paigns . oi,. .4911.^ .„. ajid. , . JJlthy .breeding places were i cleaned up that ,if , leftalone; would ( have vin^urtsd the propagation iQk..additiojkii, ' ;,juncpiihted , biliioiiß. The summ'er', of- 19i2;\Yili not see the extermination 'of tl\e £pecies^ bu.t if th'-i plans of .the! ujatidhal* ;bta|e a,nd, .local dvic organisations' and health ,departments are carried 'out,, the*, fly. crop of 1913- will be very i^iuch less encouraging '— for^he 4y« ''<><*--V* h^V.* taken S-^i sur " : prjsingly ..shftrt ..tinie/s,^,ys the j^'^iter, r "foi" the -'public -to; islea /that "tlie fty* -is' tlie-' most dangerous M'.^ ; ani'Vmai^ 05a^thesv"No!itlv American c^ipent. It has takejn a still shorter time^...]^ this conception -of the fly as an important -iiationaL • death.-r,ft|«j to .tmnSjfe A 'doz&h years ago' only^a f^w.; scientists ■ recognised the fly as a disease carrier, but at the beginning of the century thp matter was taken up. Early investigations prbved that one of the fly's favorite breeding places was m sewage and 'fi|th deposited along the river front by the: tide. Dr Jackson, of New York, , found the germs of typhoid and other diseases on the feet and bodies of practically every fly trapped on the recrea- ) 'tion piers. " Dr Howard, Chief of tho Bureau of Entomology, proved the affinity of the fly with filth— that it prefers as its habitat and the nursery for its young the filthy stable or outhouse, the garbage can, or the dirty corner under the kitchen sink. Then '"Dr. Cnunbine, secretary of tho Ivanpos ,YE(oard. of Health, came along with his L epigramimati'c injunction, 'Swat the fly ! and. the campaign commenced." The - Boy Scouts of several Kansas cities undertook the , distribution of literature on the subiect of the, fly, and organised cleaning-up campaigns, which have done much to get rid of filth ajid flies, and have made these cities models of neat--5 ness. At Washington (D.C.) more than 50QO boys and ' girls .took part m a two weeks' fly-catching campaign, which re- * suited m the destruction of more than seven million flies. Prizes were offered r ranging from £55 to a dollar; paper -boxes ' m 'which to place the dead flies were furnished free, and at the Health Department each day the catches were reL corded. The flies were counted by the measure— l6oo to a gill— and tho prize went to a lad with 343,800 to wis credit. At- Boston a similar movement was started by the Women's Municipal League, 1 large' posters being put out and direc--5 ftons issued how to get' rid of flies. It was urged as imperative that all garbage and horse manure from stables [ should be kept covered and removed : once a week m summer. "To deprive . flies of their , breeding places is the -, best 'way to get rid of them," was one clause of tho directions, and another r reads: 1 careless and dirty storekeeper must be .^controlled by ( public opinion, otherwise ; he will allow flies to ': infect: the food he \ sells ; . and -to distribute diseaso germs amongst his customers." Most of the stable-owners 2 agreed to co-operate, and experiments

were- made with various disinfecting compounds. Those having pyroligneou:-s acid as a base were found to be most efficient. In Bfrflimore an anti-fly campaign brought' in eight barrels o"f flies, or over eight millions. At Wilmington . N.C., vyhieh had been subject to typhoid epidemics,, a thorough disinfection of the, town was made under the direction of Df. Ncsbitt, .health officer. Carts, containing barrels of pyrolignepus acid, stationed at, street corners, furnished bases of operation for meh armed with sprinkling cans, who acid over practically every, square inch of Wilmington. There were the usual objections froni "conservative" ; citizens, but the work went- on, and. between June 8 and July 17 the entire, city had been sprinkled four times. /.The typhoid epidemic showed an immediate and rapid diminution. At Worqester., (Mass,) from Jiine 22 t>» July 12 ten barrels of flies were killed. These are. but. a few instances of what sane public opinion is doing m America m regard to the fly. There are very few vStates and cities m which some concerted effort is not being made, and even the Department of Agriculture is taking it up as a national affair. It is urged that toleration of the fly m any community is an indictment of its people — proof positive of a low order of general intelligence and civic spirit. What visitors to Gisborne must think when they come here, as they may do sometimes m the summer season, and see flies invading food shops and public dining rooms m countless numbers, can only be surmised. It is time surely to raise a campaign against the pest,*' and there should be sufficient initiative m our municipal health department to organise effective measures for its suppression. '*— — — aw^— —