152 J. B, CLELAND. 
min Destruction Officers at Hopetoun. It was therefore the 
end of May before he was ready for his campaign, and he 
now found conditions less suitable for his purpose. 
‘“The mice had not to go out for water, but only to play, 
which they did on fine nights. The cold made them crowd 
into the stacks amongst the bagging and stacked dunnage, 
where they kept each other warm. Burrows not drained 
would, of course, be abandoned, and I noticed that in sandy 
mallee country the burrows were occupied longer into the 
winter than those in heavy land. The net result to my 
scheme of colder weather conditions was that there were 
fewer mice to catch, and the work took longer, as they 
could get water easily, and did not run about everywhere 
at might when the ground was wet, though on clear frosty, 
though cold, nights, they came out well. Notwithstanding, 
we caught, as above stated, upwards of 600 tons of mice, 
mostly in June, 1917. Earlier in the summer we would 
have more than doubled the catch in the same period. Actual 
record catches were 42 tons at Ultima, 30 tons at Brim 
(where 10 tons of this were caught in one night), and 
numerous stations where the amount was in the vicinity of 
20 tons each. At Brim 96 barrow loads, each of about 
65,000 mice, were caught the first night.’ 
In answer to enquiries of mine as to the duration and 
cause of the prevalence of mice, Mr. England says: ‘‘The 
plague in Victoria commenced in the spring of 1916. Some 
Wimmera stations were recognised as plague stations (so 
I am informed) at that time. Right through 1916 wheat 
was stacked continuously, and was still there in many 
eases when the 1917 wheat came in. The old dunnage had 
not been cleaned up, and in many cases was infested with 
mice when the new wheat was put on top of it. The season 
probably was peculiar in favouring mice breeding, and 
many mice were also brought in from the farms, with the 
