PLAGUE PREVENTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16539, 24 September 1921, Page 9

PLAGUE PREVENTION.

WARNING BY HEALTH OFFICE. EXTERMINATION OF RATS. Plague preventative mea'sures are outlined in a letter sent to the Christchurch City Council by Dr T. F. Telford, District Health Officer for Canterbury. The letter reads “ Plague having shown itself at Brisbane, Australia, and infected rats still being discovered there, it is necessary for rat destruction measures to be taken in this country. I would, therefore, direct your council to institute an active campaign against rats nt once by means of trapping and the laying of poison, in order to minimise the spread of plague, should it he the unfortunate lot of this country for this disease to gain entry.

(1) Traps used should he of the spring type which kill the animal at once. (2) By means of squares of cardhoard, about eighteen inches square, coated with heavy lithographic varnish, leaving a margin about an inch unvarnished, the bait should be placed in tho centre 6f coated surface. The rat adheres by its feet and fur, rapidly dying of fright. (3) By means of poison baits.

The dead animals when found should be immersed in a solution of Jeyes’ fluid (strength, 1 tablespoon to 2 quarts of water) in order t-o kill the rat fleas, as it is by means of the bite of these insects that the disease is conveyed to man, should the animal from which they coin© be plague infected. " These dead rats should b© brought to a pre-arranged station and their bodies burnt in a destructor; in the absonce of tho latter, a good body of sawdust in which the dead rats can be placed and the whole well sprinkled with kerosene and. fresh sawdust added from time to time, till all the bodies are consumed.

“ Under Section 26 (c) of the Health Act, 1920. vour council can Issue notice on the owner of premises known to harbour rats to exterminate them. Your council should pay particular attention to the laying of poison in their rubbish dumps." The measures recommended are particularly efficacious," said the Mayor (Dr H. T. Thacker, M.P.) to-day. “ Another good thing is to put tar or pitch where tho rate are." To-day the City Council forwarded a letter to the Lyttelton Harbour Board, drawing the board’s attention to the advisability of preventing rats coming ashore from vessels at port.