[Report 1929] / Medical Officer of Health, Rochester City and Port.
- Rochester (Kent, England). City and Port Authority.
- Date:
- 1929
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1929] / Medical Officer of Health, Rochester City and Port. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![V. 1. ol ur Measures Against Rodents Steps taken for the detection of rodent plague :— , a. The Master of a Vessel is always asked on arrival as to the presence and mortality of rats and is given a hand-bill as to the destruction of rats, a copy of which appears in the Appendix. b. The principal grain and flour warehouses, acting by the instructions the Medical Officer of Health, under Authority of the Rat and Mice Act, now keep _ a systematic trapping of rats on their premises, and have by this means and by tht aid of cats, disposed of 800 rats during the year. Other wharves keep up a more 01 less continual war against rats. The Bituiin Company have completely cleared theii premises by means of rat virus. . . The different wharves are visited from time to time by the Port Sanitary Official] when the means taken to keep down rats are enquired into and traces of excessivt infestation looked for. It would seem that the steady worrying of the rats by the systematic use 0 poison, trapping and cats, is far more effective on wharves, etc., than lumigation oi H ltlT'Pf© SC^llc. Several large paddle steamers lie up during the winter and as they take th ground at low water, their paddles and rudder-trunks form a way up for rats. Th provision of rat-guards on the mooring ropes is therefore useless. Traps are se aboard and if infestation becomes considerable the Corporation Rat Catcher deals wit it, or fumigates the vessel as the circumstances seem to demand. Where storerooms, doors, ventilators, etc., are of rat-proof design, they ai inspected on vessels entering the Port and are ordered to repair or renew as the cas may require. 2. No measures are taken to prevent the passage of rats from ship to shore. Methods of deratisation used :— For Ships. Sulphur Dioxide and the services of the Rat Catcher. b. Premises in the vicinity of docks or quays, The Rat Catcher is used gold deal on these premises and has killed therein 920 rats during the year. 4. With regard to measures taken for the detection of rat prevalence in shij nnd on shore, in addition to the questioning of Masters and Stewards, the Inspect! examines places on board where rats are likely to be found. On shore the Ri Catcher is on the look-out. 5. Rat-proofing. Very little is done in this respect either on board or ashoi The owners of rat infested property seldom realise that it is mainly a question of foo that if there were no accessible food there would be no rats, and that the damag and depredations to which they are subjected are mostly of their own invitation. RATS DESTROYED DURING 1929 TABLE E. 1. On Vessels. Twenty seven brown rats were killed on vessels by tra] varnish-boards and dogs. There was no suspicion of Plague. TABLE F. 2 In Docks, Quays, Wharves and Warehouses. } During the year 800 rats were killed by trapping and cats by owners oft principal Grain and Flour warehouses. This does not include the 920 rats caught the Rat Catcher in riverside premises. No rats were subjected to bacteriological examination.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30038790_0038.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
