253 



^'V^.f^'^^X''"^^^'^ '■^*'- "^^^'^ ^*^P«' as reported by Vice-Con- 

 sul W. H. Omtt, were as follows: 



A. Lectures were delivered in various centers of the island showing 

 how rats are the distributers of plague and the necessity of destroy 

 mg them. •' ■' 



B. Vmis was unported, and live rats were moculated and set free 

 in every seaport in the island. 



C. Bamboo pots with poison glued to then- bottoms were dis- 

 tributed to householders and placed in the haunts of rodents. 



In Santo Domingo bounties for rats were authorized May 19, 1908, 

 by the city council. In addition, rat virus had been used in con- 

 siderable quantity. 



DESTRUCTION OF RATS IN PANAMA. 



In Cristobal, Canal Zone, Colon, and Bocas del Toro, it was stated by 

 Consul J. A. Kellogg that the sanitary department of the Isthmian 

 Canal Commission had for some time been exterminating rats by 

 traps and poisons. 



In La Boca, Canal Zone, Consul-General Arnold Shanklin stated 

 that the sanitary department of the Isthmian Canal Commission and 

 the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service had in charge and 

 had most effectually carried on the extermination of rats, and that 

 this crusade had also been extended to the old docks and wharves in 

 the city of Panama. 



MEASURES AGAINST RATS IN VANCOUVER. 



It was stated by Consul-General George M. West, December 

 17, 1908, that the city of Vancouver was paying a bounty of 50 

 cents per hundred for all rats caught. The following regulations 

 for the docking or mooriag of vessels arriving from plague-infected 

 ports became effective April 8, 1908: 



1. All vessels arriving at British Columbian ports from porta infected or suspected 

 of being infected with bubonic plague shall conform to the following regulations: 



(a) Vessels shall be moored or docked at a distance not less than 6 feet from wharf 

 or land. 



(6) Ropes or chains connecting a vessel with wharf or land shall be protected by 

 funnels of size and shape satisfactory to local and provincial boards of health. 



(c) All gangways shall be lifted when not in use. Gangways when iti'tise shall be 

 guarded against the exit of rats by a person specially detailed for this purpose. 



(rf) All vessels changing route to solely British Columbian ports shall give satisfactory 

 evidence of disinfection and extermination of vermin to provincial board of health. 



2. Every owner, agent, or captain of any vessel, and every other person violating 

 or instructing, authorizing, ordering, permitting, or otherwise suffering any person 

 to violate any of the foregoing regulations, shall be liable, upon summary conviction 

 before any two justices of the peace, for every such offense to a fine not exceeding 

 $100, with or without costs, or to imprisonment, with or without hard labor, for a 

 term not exceeding six months, or to both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion 

 of the convicting magistrates. 



Dated at Victoria, 8th April, 1908. 



