338 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



XOVEMBKE 2. 1918. 



of some £45,000 per annum being estimated as the 

 direct and almost immediate otfect of the reduction in 

 the number of rats due to the activities of the mon- 

 goose, and, in all the islands where the mongoose was 

 introduced for the purpose of killing rats, the value of 

 the introduction was appreciated at once; rats were 

 much reduced in number:!, and the losses in sugar-canes 

 and the expenses of rat-catching were saved to a large 

 extent. 



After a time, some ten to fifteen years, complaints 

 began to be made that the mongoose had failed to kill 

 off all the rats but had taken he.ivv toll of many ground- 

 nesting birds, lizards, and toad>, and had ciused much 

 loss of poultry and eggs. Later, me apparent increase 

 of insect pests of crops was chaiged to the account of 

 ihe mongoose, which having upset the balance of 

 nature by killing otf many insect-eating forms, had 

 thus provided for the increase of undesirable insects. 



In ..lamaica, this phase passed in a short time, anij 

 for the past fifteen years or more the opinion seems to 

 have prevailed m that colony that the mongoose is of 

 s'ltficient benefit more than to offset its depredations. 



In Trinidad, Barbados, Antigua, and St. Vincent, 

 on *he other hand, the mongoose has bet-n, and still is 

 considered an unmitigated pest by a veiy large pro- 

 portion of the people. 



It should be stated, however, that in lltll a Com- 

 r/iission .ippointed by the Governor of fJarbados to 

 enquire into the usefulness or otherwise of the mon- 

 goose as a rat killer, came to the conclusion that the 

 mongoose was of value in keeping the rats in check, 

 and that the mongoose destruction law ought to be 

 repealed. Tfiis was not done, and the law is still 

 In force. It may be remarked, however, that the 

 Select ("ominittee, which in 1917 reported in favour of 

 mongoose destruction, found that the impression pre- 

 vailed that the law ofl90!l was not operative, and in 

 coneeMuence practically no money was being claimed 

 as bo'inty for mongoose heads. 



In the islands where the mongoose does not 

 occur, there are laws against its importation. Such 

 Ordinances occur in Montserrat, Harbuda, the British 

 Yirg^.n Islands, Dominica, and Carriacou. 



The mongoose was introduced into St. Lucia for 

 the direct purpose of combating the serpent, the 

 Fer-de-!ance, and it has been so successful as a snake 

 kilUr that up to the present no serious complaints 

 have been heard of its being a nu'sance in that island. 



The mongoose in St. Lucia lives principally Ja 

 the lower, more open lands in the neighbourhood of 

 dwellings and cultivations, and preys upon poultry 

 to some extent. The result is that very few .serpents 

 appear in these, the inhabited, districts. 



The Select Committee (1917) of the House of 

 Assembly, Barbados, was of opinion that the destru?- 

 tion of the mongoose ought to be continued; but did 

 not refer to the destruction of rats. 



Rats are not only pests of sugar- cane, but of every 

 crop: and all stored food products and many household 

 articles suffer from their depredations. They destroy 

 books and papers, gnaw through the woodwork of 

 buildings, and often dig out the interior of walls, and 

 undermine cement floors and masonry foundations. 

 They are the cause of epidemics of disease, espe- 

 cially plague, which being a rat-borne disease, is com- 

 municated to human beings by the bite of the rat flea. 



At the present time the situation with regard to rats 

 and mongoose appears to be as follows. In .Jamaica it 

 is realized that rats are still a serious pest, and th;\t 

 any reduction of the numbers of their enemies would 

 immediately be followed by an increase in the 

 numbers of rats, and in the damage done by them. 

 Consequently, the feeling in that colony appears to be 

 that the mongoose is doing more good than harm. 

 Vigorous efforts are being made to reduce the numbers 

 of the rats, although there seems to be no government 

 action in the matter. 



In Trinidad the mongoose is looked upon as being 

 all harm and no good, at least, that the harm done by it 

 is so much in excess of the good that the latter is hardly 

 taken into account at all. In St. Vincent and Antigua 

 the same opinion seems to prevail. 



In Barbados the feeling at the present time on 

 the part of that portion of the connnunity represented 

 by the Select Committee of the House of Assembly 

 appears to be that the mongoose should be destroyed 

 without regard to any useful purpose it may have served 

 or may be expected to serve. In lltl 1, however, the Com- 

 mission on mongoose reporttd that on account 

 of its value as a rat killer the mongoose 

 ought not to be destroyed. Probably the real attitude 

 toward the mongoose and rat <|uestion in Barbados is 

 somewhere between that of the Commission of 191 1 

 and the Select Committee of l!tl7. At times the ravs 

 are very destructive — then the mongoose ought to bo 

 encouraged: at other times the depredations of thi 



