CO129-348 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1908 [7-10] — Page 196

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

: