Warren sheaf., 1908-03-12
Plan WAR ON RATS
CRUSADE TO ExTERMjNATE THE
PESTS STARTED IN ENGLAND.
Damage of More Than $5O,0OO,O00 q
Year Caused by Rodents--Spread
Of Epidemics and Plaques
Traced to Vernn.

London.-An effort is to be made at
last to deal with the plague of rats in
England on serious and compre-
hensive basis. A meeting is to be held
for this purpose, with the object Of
establishing society for the exter-
mination of rats and other vermin, to
which the support of Lord Avebury,
Sir Lauder Brunton, Sir J. Crichton-
Browne and Sir Harry Johnston has
been promised.
T. is estimated that in Great Britain
the damage done in one year by rats
exceeds $50,00O,OOO. At the docks.
where they have come to be regarded
as a terrible though ineradicable evil,
they have been known to consume
whole carcasses of bullochs, and
scarcely ship comes into dock which
Is not overrun with them.
They have been known to destroy
whole crops of corn, and innumerable
fowls and pheasants have been killed
and destroyed. Butchers, bakers,
grocers' shops, granaries, and factories
there Is scarcely house or store in
the country that does not suffer some
loss from their depredations.
But the chief danger is in the by.
g1enic aspect Of the rats. Trichinosis
has been traced to the rats, who infect
the pigs, and subsequently the people
who eat pork. The rapid rise of cpl.
denies and plaques has also been
traced to these rodents.
Many attempts have been made to
solve the problem of determination,
the difficulty of which can be appre,
ciated from the fact that they multi.
ply at the rate of 500 a year from one
pair. The rat catcher has been aban.
doned in some docks for poison and
cats, but though these have been
found to keep down the numbers and
lessen the damage, they can do little
toward exterminating the pest.
An experiment has been tried in
Denmark of setting a price of about
a penny on the head of each rat
brought in, and by this means more
than 100000 rats were destroyed The
cost of the experiment was about
$3.50, and it is reckoned that the
rats could have done $195,OOO worth of
damage.
10 organize some scheme on these
lines and, if possible, to get govern.
ment aid, will be the aim of the So
ciety If it is constituted. It is esti-
mated that rat skins in large quanti
ties would have a considerable COM
mercial value
IN the report Of the port Of Lon
con sanitary committee issued to the
court of common council, the total de-
structlon of rats for four weeks of
November is given as 4756.
The manager of the London and
India Docks Company said that their
bill for ratcatchers and food for a
large staff of cats was a matter of
thousands Of dollars every year, and
they still received complaints of dam
age in the sheds and warehouses.
Il do not believe we shall ever be
able to exterminate them,' said he;
at the most we shall be able to limit
the numbers and the damage. Take
L 1nDuly y OCCAS, lOf Instance, with It's
acres of marsh land in the vicinity. AS
soon as the rats fail to find enough
to eat outside they will come into the
docks and search for it there"
The dock proprietors of the country
and steamship companies spend large
sums to clear their ships of rats.
The damage done among the car
go in the closed hold during a long
voyage, if the rats become numerous,
or among stores of grain," said dock
official, 1T is quite impossible to esti-
mate. Sometimes whole bale of
cloth or cotton will be ruined by their
gnawing at the ends"
Though the docks are the happy
hunting ground Of rats, many ware
houses and old buildings in London
are plagued with them.
TO PROBE LlLLEY CHARGES.