1922.] 



Destruction of Rats in 1921. 



197 



35 County Boroughs, 5 Port Sanitary Authorities, 7 Metropolitan 

 Boroughs and 57 Minor Authorities, took action. On the other 

 hand no special action was taken by 85 Authorities, the reason 

 given in 33 instances being that rat destruction was a routine 

 matter throughout the year, and that special action was, there- 

 fore, not considered necessary or desirable. In 30 cases no 

 reason at all was given as to why no steps had been taken to 

 organise a Rat Week. Of the 127 Authorities which informed 

 the Ministry that some action was taken, 44 took considerable 

 pains to give the week great publicity, while 33 gave their own 

 property, sewage farm, dumps, etc., special attention. On the 

 whole, the National Rat Week may be said to have achieved its 

 purpose in stimulating interest in rat and mouse destruction, 

 and bringing once more before the public the fact that they 

 are responsible for the destruction of any rats or mice infesting 

 land or buildings in their occupation. 



During the year, 734 cases of infestation were brought to 

 the notice of the Ministry, and in respect of these infestations 

 action was taken by the responsible Local Authority in 388 cases, 

 and the Ministry's advice was followed with satisfactory results 

 in 212 cases. During the year 1920, these figures were 317, 

 135 and 37 respectively. The increase in the number of cases 

 received during the year 1921 over those received during the 

 previous year, is partly due to the fact that, for the first six 

 months, the three assistant Technical Officers of the Ministry 

 were very active throughout the country, and brought to the 

 notice of the Ministry infestations that would otherwise not have 

 been reported. The termination of their engagements on the 

 31st December has greatly reduced the possibility of securing the 

 proper administration of the Act, as, without definite evidence 

 of infestation, the Ministry cannot bring pressure to bear upon 

 backward Local Authorities. 



During the year, 10\ tons of rat destructive bait were pre- 

 pared at the Ministry's Factory. In addition the work in the 

 Rat Research Laboratory greatly increased, especially in respect 

 of the number of experiments performed, and was productive 

 of much useful information. Several promising lines of investi- 

 gation were developed. The actual number of samples received 

 or examined was 186. In addition to chemical examinations 

 1,087 experiments were earned out on rats. 



The analysis of these experiments would probably prove too 

 technical to be of general interest, but it may be stated that 



