"STRATFORD EVENING POST." TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1927. CLEAN UP TIME.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume LVV, Issue 18, 25 January 1927, Page 4

"STRATFORD EVENING POST." TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1927. CLEAN UP TIME.

This is the time of the year when the Health Board and municipal authorities usually insist upon a general clean-up in the interests o'f health. It is surprising to how oddments unobtrusively accumulate and become a hiding place for all manner of insects, particularly flies. And jusiD now this pest is more than usually conspicuous. The common house fly is one of the most active carriers of disease and in times of low atmospheric pressure when epidemics are to be expected, flies are also prevalent. 1 'Scoot that fly" is a good maxim; and to it let, us add "Have a good} clean-up." A paragraph in the "Auckland Star" recalls the success of Professor Kirk and his assistants in ridding the Featherston and Trentham military camps Of flies and suggests that Professor Kirk must have had some secret that- the Government ought to acquire and put into general use. Our recollection of Professor Kirk's campaign was that it consisted iu the systematic application of simple methods that are. iu use today in thousands of homes. The Professor had a "fly detachment" under his command, subject to military discipline- and drilled regularly in anti-fly methods. The system or" suppression was based on a knowledge of the habits of the various kinds of flies. The insects were attacked at their breeding places. All refuse about the camp wa%s destroyed daily. Peceptacles tor waste food were kept covered. Fly squads scoured over the surrounding country in, search of decaying organic matter, the carcases of dead animals and the like, and a killing spray was freely used. Inside the hutments the house fly was trapped as soon as he appeared. This fly, of course, is fond of circling in mid-air, ultimately settling on any convenient perch. Hun dreds of wires, smeared with "tanglefoot," manufactured in the camp from resin and a vegetable oil heated together, were suspended from the ceilings, so that the flies were encouraged to settle, and, having settled to remain where they were. The wines were collected daily and the flies burned off, fresh prepared wires being hung to catch new arrivals. The blowfly and bluebottle were trapped with equal ease. These insects made for the light,, would hit the windows, and buz/, down the panes, to find their death in a weak kerosene emulsion contained in shallow tin -troughs. Th? systematic application of these methods had its immediate effect on the plague, and in a few- weeks scarcely a fly was to be found in the camp or the surrounding country. The. contrast between the conditions at the Featherston camp and those a few miles distant during the hot weather was amazing. Virtually any insect pest can be dealt with' in -a similar way, by basing the actual method of attack on a knowledge of its habits. It is the practical application of scientific knowledge thai-constitutes the "secret" of all successful campaigns against the pests that afflict human communities. There is no reason why ai fly or a mosouito should exist in and around Stratford, except that wo lack the organisation to carry out systematic measures or suppression.