Page:Report on the outbreak of plague at Fremantle.djvu/7

 to joists laid on the ground, and was used for storing wood, fish-baskets, etc., and was an ideal hunting ground for rats. Similar conditions seemed to prevail in many parts of the town, which is a mixture of old buildings, new buildings, dilapidated shed and outhouses, etc.; and the condition is aggravated by a tendency to keep small stables and fowl sheds, which both ought to be prohibited in the town.

During the outbreak 471 rats were examined, and 99 of them found infected. The worst rat infection appears to have been during the week ending 15th March, 1903, when, of 65 rats examined, 29 were infected.

—These, besides the rat extermination already mentioned, comprised inoculation, isolation, disinfection, and general cleansing. The local board of health were good enough to place one of their rooms at our disposal, and this was used as an office for the extra staff of inspectors and rat-catchers who were put on under Inspector Stevens, and also for public inoculation, which was provided free of charge; and 2,450 persons availed themselves of it, besides 265 who were done privately by the general practitioners. The rat-catchers were employed in laying baits and traps all over that part of the town; and the inspectors patrolled every block to see that all rubbish was removed and nuisances remedied as rapidly as possible, and the local board was induced to put on extra carts and men for that purpose. The Central Board provided all local boards with phosphorus paste for destroying rats. Seven premises were disinfected and cleansed. The shipping regulations in this connection were strictly enforced, and an extra staff of inspectors put on for the purpose, and also for inspecting goods leaving the wharf after lying there, as many infected rats had come from that vicinity. In the same way, an inspector was put on at the river wharf at Perth to examine goods lightered up the river.

—The facts of this outbreak would appear to emphasise the point that plague is rarely caught from pre-existing cases. It never has been in this State, and therefore the system of wholesale contact segregation would appear unnecessarily stringent, and might be replaced by supervision, persons simply being offered quarters during the disinfection of their homes, and being allowed back immediately on its completion. As to the origin of the outbreak, there appears to be some idea that it was re-introduced from without, but this does not appear to me to be likely. The