DIPLOMACY 79 



complain of the smell, to threaten to leave his prem- 

 ises ; and give them a certificate saying the place is 

 insanitary. The immediate result will be that the 

 landlord will refuse admission to the mosquito 

 brigade. Then the neighbours will complain of mos- 

 quitos. If this is unfruitful of results, it is best to 

 approach his employer if he has one. There is 

 certain to be some one in the town with whom he is 

 intimately connected. Perhaps the landlord is a 

 clerk in a shipping office. Interview the head of the 

 firm and ask him to admonish his refractory employe. 

 The cesspool will be repaired rapidly. A Maltese 

 ship-chandler had a most insanitary house which he 

 had let in flats. The tenants were always ill with 

 fever. He was careful to live elsewhere himself. 

 The Health Department remonstrated, cajoled, im- 

 plored, without avail. He said that the Maltese were 

 a down-trodden race persecuted by England, and he 

 would not do anything. Suddenly a ship came into 

 port, and the captain refused his goods, taking those 

 of his rival. This was repeated. He complained of 

 unfairness to the shipping agent, and was informed 

 that " We are not so unfair to you as you are to 

 your sick tenants." The result was that the house 

 was repaired, cleaned, and partly rebuilt. There were 

 several other instances of a similar nature. A clerk 

 in a French company let part of his house to a poor 

 family, all of whom suffered from the results of 

 insanitation. He had repeatedly refused admission 

 to the mosquito brigade, and domestic mosquitos 

 continued to breed in the wash-tubs on the roof. We 



