FLIES AND RODENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 118, 22 May 1942, Page 4

FLIES AND RODENTS

A A incipient plague oi.’ Hies and rodents is endangering the public i health of Wanganui to-day. and immediate ai-iion is called for because it is the result of the uigleet on the part of a number of citizens to bury household refuse. When the municipal service of garbage collection was curtailed the following appeared in this column: "The public must make other arrangemenTs from now on for the disposal of rubbish. This can be done by burning and by burying. I'liilui’o to do either the one or the other will be the first step in tlie spreading of disease, and if refuse is allowed Io remain open to the air. then it may be responsible for .starting in epidemic. The dumpiiig of refuse on roadsides, on riverbanks, in the river itself, or in waste lands or unoccupied sections is an aiiti-soeial act, and should be so regarded by every man. woman and child." Unfortiuiatelv too many anti-social acts have been committed in Wanrranui during the past five months, and the rat population has increased enormously, while blowflies carry eoiitamination from refuse heaps to every home in.the city. What is the pose lion going l<i be when the warm-weal her returns.! Obviously very unsatisfactory indeed. In line. Wanganui is heading for very -.erious Iroiibb. Immediale aelion is called for Io abate the refuse nuisance, and this could best be done by enlisting every citizen in Ihe task of cleaning up his own section and making il free from ref use, and any condition which would encourage Ihe breeding of flics and rais. The mon employed on the No. LI Schemes could, for a fori night or so. be diverted from their present work to clearing the riverbank and waste lands of refuse oi all kinds. The rid problem presents a real ditlieuliy because of the intelligence of the rodent population. When too many casualties occur in one area the rats migrate io another, consequently halfmeasures are of limited value. To clear an area of rats may not mean that’ they have been destroyed: it is more than probable that the majority of them have removed to another section of the city. ('oneurrent with the clean-up effort, a widely-planned and conciirrcnl ty-exeeiiled attack upon the rats should, be made. This requires organising. Inn it should not. be beyond the capacity of the City Couneil. the (’hainber of Commerce, and the Emergency Preeautions Organisation to fashion such a. scheme, and to put it imo operation at once. The longer the delay in putting it into operation the more costly will it be, in damaged property and impaired jiublic health. There is only one period of time in which Io attack’ an epidemic, and that is before that epidemic can start. Prevention, as always, is better than cure.