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protected by fine-meshed wire netting with a view to confining rats as far as possible to the sewers and this was accordingly done.
to householders was In January 1902 a memorandum drawn up by myself in consultation with Professor Simpson containing simple instructions as to what should be done both to guard against Plague and to deal with it, should it occur in a house, and thousands of copies of this memorandum in both English and Chinese were posted and distributed throughout the Colony.
In February it was found necessary to somewhat modify the aforementioned bylaws and this was accordingly done by the Board.
In March a Rat Ordinance was introduced by the Government at the instigation of Professor Simpson, which gave the Sanitary Board power to order the filling up of all holes and rat runs and also dealt with the question of the prevention of the passage of rats from ships to the shore and vice versa. By virtue of this ordinance and the Regulations made thereunder the Board have dealt with many blocks of property and have required the owners to render the ground surfaces impervious to rats and to fill up all existing rat holes. In addition to this the Board have had for some months past a large staff of rat-catchers and rat-poisoners who have been employed solely in trapping, poisoning and otherwise exterminating as many rats as possible, the total number of rats destroyed this year up to the end of April being about 54,000. During the early part of the year a proportion of these rats was regularly examined bacteriologically for Plague bacilli and since the arrival of the Japanese Doctors the whole of them have been so examined daily, with the result that I have been made acquainted at once with the exact locality in which Plague infected rats were found and have been able to at once carry out preventive measures in the shape of the cleansing and disinfection of such houses as were within the rat plague infected areas.
Acting