The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-11-01
WAGE WAR
ON RODENTS
Board of Health
Plans a New
Crusade.
IFrom Thursdays daily.)

The Board of Health at its regular |
meeting yesterday determined to in
augurate a war Of determination upon |
rats, on the ground that the rodent was
a means of communication for plague
and for that reason Hawaii should take
no chances now, and act before ii is too |
late. This action was taken upon the
of Executive officer Pratt
who argued that an ounce of prevention
was worth a pound of cure, and with |
the conditions now prevalent in the |
Orient, ii was imperative that every |
be taken in the Hawaiian
Islands.
In Japan the rat has long been recog-
nized as "A purveyor of plague, and the
war of determination is being relent
lessly waged against it. While there
is no danger from plague in Honolulu
or the territorA at present, 1t is held
that nothing SHOULD be left undone to
have these conditions continue, and the
wisest course Is to double the precau-
tons against 1t now. on this account
the Board of Health feels that IL Is the
imperative duty Of every citizen to aid
in this work of determination, for as
there are no funds Immediately avail
able for the purpose, the board has re-
Quested that as individuals every citi-
zen aid in the warfare.
The matter was called to the atten-
tion of the board by the reading of the
following letter:
Honolulu, October % 1901
To the President and Members of the
Board of Health:
Gentlemen:-There is a matter which
desire to bring to your attention with
the hope that some action can be taken
which will be of benefit to this country
1t seems to me To be fitting time to
start in on "A rat-killing campaign.
No plague is at present in Honolulu, or
any part of the Territory as far as is
known; but we have reports of cases
by every steamer from Hongkong, &C.
casonally from San Francisco, and now
by last steamer We learn IL Is In Bris-
bane.
/ Just so long as there are cases in these
places we are open to the danger of hav-
| ing II get ashore from one of those ports.
The United States Marine Hospital serv-
ice with whom we are working in per-
| feet accord is doing all in their power
to prevent it getting ashore from ves-
sells, but there is always a chance that
rats. and infected ones at that, may
manage to get ashore and so infect 9TH
ers.
That plague is spread principally
through agency of rats is a fact rccogniz-
ed by all countries where II has exist
ed, and 1t is only a few months ago that
Japan having few cases of plague,
started in on general rat crusade, and
thousands were extermipated. Il is not
my desire TO be considered an alarmst
tor | thoroughly believe that the sooner
the people of this community take a
calm view of plague and ,ducat, them
selves to the fact that this being a SEA
pplt city, We are always open II IN"
danger of contagious and infectious dis
t"S'S' Just so much quicker VIII the com
i',,' .'nn ana Sn'pli's interests ne pest
nIaou, sho,,a .noi,, ,. ',,a. ',,,
he likely to have som. d.a,hs Inn, 49,,
fact that If II does come III, commercial
and shipping interests of the community
are at once affected ana everybody suf-
ters'
me old saying AN ounce of proven
uon " worth pound OF cure, was new
=, Ion ~ s,rs instance
,,n ,,r,a, "U' 20 u''''' W star 'ah
With IN, coming m ~ tho an, saasnn
we ar, very likely to have sporodic cases
OF plague, and If before this time comes
We can diminish the number of rats or
eNterminatc them by the concerted ac-
ton OF IN" whole community, then the
uanEer Oh It's spreading VIII be greatly
-.,.u
cor,r,i,,n. 80 ~, h ,vuT ina.
nm This mater an, om,i,n. ,,,,n
action. and tina, public as n whole
through the press. be requested TO give
the Board their support in this matter
as soon as the committee has reached a
decision,
"eSpee"u'lS submitted,
% d. ihAlI,
''''e''
MI, Dolr thouRht that the matter
should be laid before the public in the
press ana mat the cooperation of the
community be asked.