THE DISASTROUS RAT - [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Mr. Bensusan's article in the last issue of The Spectator gives a very timely warning, and the only criticism which can be made of it is that it might well have been longer and more detailed. I hope it will be read by the Medical Officers of Health who will have to deal with the dangers resulting from the vast rat population in our towns.
It is not generally known how numerous the rat-infested houses are in London and how inadequate are the measures taken by the local authorities to deal with this problem. I have recently come across three cases in different parts of Islington where the plague of rats was intolerable. In one house a mother and children were afraid to return home from work and school till the father got back from his work, as the ruts took possession of the rooms while the family was out and bit the children when they sat down to their meals. In another street an unemployed man had to keep a dog, which, of course, he could not afford, to protect his children from the rats who otherwise ran over them in bed. A nest of rats was found in the trap which connected the house drain with the sewers. A third house is known in the road as the "Rat House," and the families who have occupied the ground floor in the past year have changed so frequently on account of the rats that it has not been possible to keep in touch with them all.
Each of these eases has been reported to the local authority with the only result that the rat holes have been stopliect up and access from the drains temporarily prevented until the rats find another way in, which they do within a few days. Nothing whatever is done to reduce the hordes of rats which live in and under the old houses in this as in other parts of London. The unfortunate occupiers of such houses are left to battle feebly with the pest with such inadequate aids as dogs, cats and traps.
What will happen if these rats get infected with plague only those who have been through several plague seasons in India can realise. Perhaps if our Health Officers were sent out East for a little plague experience they would come back less indifferent, not to say complaisant, about rat infestation in London.—! am, &c., H. TEMPEST REDLY. 57 Hilldrop Road, N. 7.
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