io6o 



Notes. 



[FEB., 



opportunities in the future than they have enjoyed in the past 



for keeping live stock and developing home production. At 



a time when the Village Clubs Association and the Women's 



Institutes and other social forces are stimulating Hfe in the 



countryside, the villager finds himself in the possession of a 



higher wage and larger leisure than he has ever known ; it 



follows that he may be expected to take an active interest in 



the improvement of his own position. 



* * * * * . * 



One of the most encouraging results of the National Rat 

 Week in this country is the interest aroused abroad. In- 



^ , , ^ . quiries have come from the authorities 

 The World Campaign . . i j x r 



against Rats. ^^^^ far-away lands-from I\Ieso- 



potamia, from Accra on the Gold Coast, 

 from Shanghai, from New Zealand, and from Nigeria, India, and 

 the West Indies. The authorities have mitten to the Board to 

 inquire precisely what is being clone to abate the rat menace, 

 asking for Kterature and for the results of experiments with 

 various poisons, stating the special needs of their own country 

 and asking how these can best be met. Inasmuch as the rat 

 menace is universal in its scope, and is most deadly in some of 

 those parts of the world that are under British control, it is 

 indeed encouraging to find that the handling of the problem in 

 the Mother Country has stimulated so much interest and inquiry 

 elsewhere. It is unnecessary, perhaps, to say that all possible 

 information has been sent and that a carefiil record of all 

 experiments that are possible under the existing conditions is 

 being kept and will be published in due course. It may be 

 mentioned that inquiries have not been limited to Africa, 

 Asia and Australasia, Both the Swiss and the Danish 

 authorities are keenly interested in all that is being done. 

 These countries have been active in the past and are busy to-day 

 in doing what they can to destroy their rats. It may be 

 hoped that facilities for scientific inquiry will soon be pro- 

 vided under Government auspices in this country. 



