Sessional_Paper_1902 — Page 529

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give effect to this. The building having been vacated the floors, ceilings and walls should be thoroughly examined for rat runs; rat poison and rat-traps should be laid down for one night and then the building should be cleansed and disinfected. Usually it will be found necessary that the owner should make the house rat-proof and put it in a sanitary condition before it is re-occupied. If a sufficiency of light and air cannot by structural alterations be admitted, it should be declared on that ⚫ account unfit for human habitation and should not be re-occupied. The rats in the adjoining houses should be destroyed and examined bacteriologically and, if found necessary, these houses should also be rendered rat-proof and altered so as to admit a sufficiency of air and light.

A similar procedure of vacating the house should be carried out when rats infected with plague are discovered therein, or when several infected rats are found in the adjoining street.

29. The plague work should be independent of the ordinary sanitary routine work of the day, and therefore requires a special establishment which can work in conjunc- tion with the Sanitary Department and get the benefit of its assistance. two should not be amalgamated to that degree that one set of duties are lost in the other. The Director and executive Head of both should be the Medical Officer of Health for the Colony. His time must not, however, be occupied with clerical work, which should be relegated to a capable head clerk or if necessary several clerks work- ing in his office. I would recommend that the weekly bulletins received by the Government and all official documents relating to the Health of the Colony, or to outbreaks of disease in other countries should be sent direct to the Medical Officer of Health; while official documents relating purely to administrative work should be addressed to the administrative President of the Sanitary Board.

30. The duties of the special Plague Department summarised, are:-

(1) The discovery, location and microscopical examination of plague

cases whether—

(a) rat plague;

(b) human plague.

(2) The tracing out of the history of the human plague and the con- nection with others, if any, of each case and the following out the course of rat plague.

(3) The removal of patient and disinfection of clothes, &c.

(4) The examination of contacts and disinfection of the contacts' effects. (5) The vacating of buildings.

(6) The destruction of rats and the cleansing of infected buildings. (7) The seeing that infected buildings and adjoining buildings are made

rat-proof and that air and light is admitted into these buildings. (8) The careful supervision as regards cleanliness and freedom from rats of the houses provided by the Government for people removed from any block of buildings.

(9) The boarding of vessels when required and inspection of sick persons. (10) The establishment of a quarantine station for the observation of any

sick persons coming by boat from an infected district. (11) The inspection of the quays and reporting to the Harbour Master any relaxation or infringement of the regulations relating to the precautions in the harbour to prevent rats from coming on shore. (12) The general destruction of rats in godowns and elsewhere. For this purpose several of Clayton's machines for pumping gas would be useful. The distribution of rat poison in the storm-water

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