This legislation recognized national responsibility for control, 
but placed the burden of destroying rats upon the occupier of land, and 
prescribed fines for noncompliance. Execution of the act was placed in 
the hands of local authorities (600 in all) within whose jurisdictions 
infested premises were situated and also in the Ministry of Agriculture, 
which may enforce the act in case of failure of a locel authority. Among 
other interesting details was the provision permitting agents of a local 
authority to enter the land of the occupier to undertake necessary measures 
for extermination and to crganize collective action where desirable. 
It soon became apparent that the 1919 legislation had many defects. 
The principal one was that it did not make tke owner es well as the occu- 
pier responsible for rat elimination. The owner should have been held 
responsible because these rodents are most commonly found in the poorer 
sections of the city or country, and the tenants cannot afford control. 
The act did not clearly state on whom the financial brrden was to be placed. 
Despite defects, nowever, it is generally thought that the legislation has 
been helpful in prcviding a plan of cooperation for combating the pest on a 
national basis. 
A technical adviser of the Ministry of Agriculture was appointed to 
do research work and to disseminate information on the best methods of con- 
trol. One of the better-known plans devised by the Ministry is that for 
"National Rat Week." The purposes of Rat Veex, which is observed annually 
in November, are to remind the people of their legal obligations and the 
necessity for eliminating rats, to inform them of the latest recommenda- 
tions for control, and to encourage concerted action. 
No accurate survey has been made of the results of the Rat and Mouse 
Act and National Rat Teek, out E. C. Read, of the Ministry of Agriculture, 
estimates that the rat population was reduced @O percent by 19350. 
In his recommendations on control methods, made soon after the law 
was passed in 1920, the technical adviser of the Ministry emphasized rat- 
procfing, supplemented by; poisoning with barium-carbonate or red-squill 
baits and by trapping and gassing. It is of interest to note the increased 
use of red-squill thereafter: Of the 93 firms in London selling rat pois- 
ons at that time, only 6 carried reliable red-squill; now it is almost 
the only poison used in England for rat control, and possibly 10 tons of 
the powder are use@ annually. 
Germany 
Germany has no national legislation directly on rat control, buta 
general law of 1900 gave the local authorities power to enact regulations 
for their jurisdictions. Local chambers of agriculture in that country 
are now actively engaged in rat suppression and, as a means of preventin 
waste of food, the Government is supporting the movement. Those who know 
German can read to advantage a recent excellent book entitled "Das Ratten- 
buch" (The Rat Book), by Raphael Koller, which contains a wealth of in- 
formation on all phases of rat control. 
wh BP 
