The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1902-01-14

conditions of legislation are naturally
not 50 well unders TODD as here, they are
nevertheless as your correspondent be
lieves, absolutely correct.
HoNOLULU'S RAT CRUSADE.
Dr. Wyman. surgeong general OF the
Marine Hospital Service, has been
watching, with his usual sense OF hui
NOR, as well as vim and interest in
sanitary conditions, the crusade
against rats in Honolulu. Bring me
copies of the rat bulletins, he shouted
{ through the telephone to one of his
chiefs in the Butler building the other
day, when your correspondent called
for any news he might have of the
situation. a bulletin was brought con-
tanning a report by DIR. l.. L. Golfer.
Honolulu, II. l.. Nov 9. 1901.
Sir: l have the honor to inclose here
with a copy of a letter. which DIR. Pratt
the executive officer OF the Hawaiian ter
ritor!al board of health read to the board
at its last meeting. He calls attention
to the necessity or at least to the desira
bility of establishing here a well-organiz-
ed rat crusade, a measure of prccaution
which commends itself to a large num-
Der of the citizens of Honolulu. and
which was favorably received and i'm
mediately acted upon by the board OF
health, as will be seen from the letter
from Dr. Pratt to this office, a copy of
which Is also inclosed. Since my invi-
tation to serve on the committee for or
sanizing the crusade, several meetings
have been held, with the result that the
following general plan of action has been
adopted:
l. The town to be divided into dis
tricts, ana each district covered by an
inspector, who shall distribute rat traps
and poison, see that they are properly
used. deodorize the traps, and collect all
rats.
2. The district as a whole to be under
the supervision of two superintendent.
8. The methods of discriminating rats
to be confined to traps, poison and sui
phur fumigation, the rat-bounty method
not to be used
4. All rubbish to be cleared up and
burned.
s. All interisland vessels to be fumi-
gated.
6. All wharves and warehouses to be
made air-tight for sulphur fumigaton
this to include underneath the wharves.
Z. The rats are to be kept separated
according to the district from which they
come. and are to be examined bacter-
oloSically for the purpose of determining
whether or not a certain district Is prob
ably infected and is in need of special
attention.
l VIII report on the progress OF the
crusade from time to time and forward
any satisfies concerning 1t likely to be
of interest.
Respectfully.
l.. T.. COFER.
Passed Assistant Surgeon, u S. NJ. II.
s., Chief Quarantine officer, Terri
tory of Hawaii.
The Surgeon General
L. :. Marine Hospital Service.
Unclosure)
Honolulu, II. l.. Oct. 20. 1901.
Gentlemen: There is Il 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 a fitting time to
start a rat-killng campaign.
No plague is at present in Honolulu,
or any part OF the territory as far as Ia
known, but We have reports of cases by
every steamer from Hongkong, OCCASION
ally from San Francisco, and now by
last steamer We learn it is in Brisbane.
Just so long as there are cases in these
places, we are open TO the danger of
having 1t get ashore from one of these
ports. The L. S. Marine Hospital Serv-
ice, with whom we are working in per-
feet accord, is doing all in its power to
prevent ii getting ashore from vessels,
but there is always a chance that rats,
and infected ofrhs at that, may manage
TO get ashore and so infect others
That plague Is spread principally
through the agency of rats is fact rec
ogniZcd by all countries where plague
has existed, and 1t is only a few months
ago that Japan, having "A few cases of
plague, started in on general rat cru
SADIE and thousands were exterminated.
1t Is not my desire to be considered an
alarmist, for i thoroughly believe the
sooner the people of this community take
"A calm view of plague and educate them
selves to the fact that this being a sea-
port city we are always open to the dam
ger of contagious and infectious diseases
just so much quicker will the commercial
and shipping interests be best conserved.
1t Is not only the fact that If plague
should again appear we would be like
ly to have some deaths. but the fact that
If 1t does come the commercial and ship
ping interests of the community are at
once affected and everybody suffers.
The old saying. IAN ounce of preven-
ton Is worth "A pound of cure" was new
en- truer than in this instance. In other
words, 1t is better to take precautions
before 1t does appear. With the coming
on OF the rainy season we are very like
ly to have sporadic cases of plague. and
if before this time comes we can dimin-
ism the number of rats or exterminate
them by the concerted action of the
whole community then the danger OF it's
spreading will be greatly diminished.
l would respectfully request that n
committee of three be appointed to take
up this matter and outline a plan of
action. and that the public as whole,
through the press, be requested to give
the board their support In this matter
as soon as the committee has reached n