243 



The operation comprises the holds, bunkers, storerooms, crew's quarters, emigrants' 

 quarters or compartments for third and fourth class passengers, and, in general, all 

 interior compartments of the ship. 



The officers' cabins, and those of first and second class passengers, as well as the 

 dining rooms, and saloons which are provided for them, are not subjected to deratiza- 

 tion except in cases where the sanitary official judges it necessary notably when the 

 ship is suspected of being or is infected by plague, when it has been observed that the 

 malady exists among the rats on board, or when there has been a death from unusual 

 causes. 



ART. 6. The apparatus to be employed for the deratization, by virtue of article 1, 

 are placed at the disposal of the owners or agents, according to the conditions approved 

 by the sanitary authority. 



Ports possessing one of these machines are alone open to vessels coming from countries 

 considered as being contaminated by plague. 



The operations are effected under the permanent supervision of the sanitary author- 

 ity and with the least possible delay. 



ART. 7. The expenses of deratization are borne by the owners, in conformity with 

 the provisions of article 94 (last paragraph) of the decree of January 4, 1896. No 

 sanitary tax is due, in consequence, for the operation. 



ART. 8. The expenses considered in article 7 are based on the gross tonnage of 

 the ship, if the deratization comprises all its parts, and on the cubic capacity of the 

 parts deratized, if the operation is partial. The cubic capacity is determined by and 

 from the plans of the ship, without allowing for the space actually occupied by mer- 

 chandise. 



ART. 9. A certificate setting forth the conditions under which the operation has 

 been effected is delivered to the captain or owners by the sanitary authority . 



ART. 10. Ships which are not necessarily subject to the requirements of deratiza- 

 tion may, upon their request, be subjected to this operation upon their departure, 

 as on their arrival, either with full or empty holds, and obtain, in consequence, the 

 delivery of the certificate mentioned in article 9. Every facility should be accorded 

 them for this purpose. 



ART. 11. Violations of the provisions of the present decree are punishable by the 

 penalties set forth in article 14 of the law of March 3, 1822, independently of the 

 measures taken for the isolation or other measures to which ships are subjected by 

 reason of their origin or the sanitary condition on board at the time of arrival. 



ART. 12. Are annulled, the decree of September 21, 1903, and the provisions of 

 the decree of September 23, 1900, which would be at variance with the second para- 

 graph of article 6 above cited. 



ART. 13. The minister of the interior is charged with the execution of the present 

 decree, which shall be published in the Official Journal, inserted in the Bulletin of 

 Laws, and posted in the ports. 



DESTRUCTION OF RATS IN GERMAN PORTS. 



In Hamburg, according to Consul-General R. P. Skinner, stationed 

 at that port, persistent efforts were being made to exterminate rats 

 not only on board ship but in the city itself, and he reported the 

 following method of procedure : 



Upon the arrival of every vessel an inspecting officer employed by the board of 

 health boards the same to inquire whether, during the voyage, rats have died in 

 exceptionally large numbers. While in port the vessel is visited almost daily by in- 

 spectors, who search for dead rats, particularly in the holds. On vessels from such 

 ports whence plague-infected rats have been brought to Hamburg repeatedly an 



