onclosure 3.
193
the Kai Fong were, however, somewhat more protracted than
was anticipated. The Chinese population has such an aver-
-sion to disinfection of their dwellings as hitherto carri-
-ed out by the Sanitary Authorities, that it was recognised
that so long as disinfection (as distinguished from mere
cleansing) was imposed as the consequence of the finding
of plague infected rats in a house or block of houses, it
would be idle to expect the co-operation of the population
in the crusade against rats.
I therefore decided, on the
suggestion of Dr. Pearse, to require of the Kai Fong that
the streets only from which rats were collected should be
identified, and that the operations consequent on the
finding of Plague infected rats should not take any other
form than that of thorough cleansing. These proposals were
agreed to by the wai Fong and the procedure set out in the
3rd. enclosure was accordingly laid down.
8.
In this decision this Government
is, I submit, justified by the conclusions arrived at by
the Indian Plague Commission who have established the fact
that (except in the rare form of Pneumonic Plague the
disease is communicated by the rat-flea and that disinfect-
-ion apart from the killing of rat-fleas and their larvae
is
: