Some valuable extracts from Mr. Rider Haggard's forthcoming work on
" Rural Denmark and its Lessons " appear in last Saturday's Times. After noting the enormous mischief done in this country by rats, and the public danger caused by plague-infected rats in East Anglia, Mr. Haggard insists on the need of a national campaign against a national menace, The instructions of the Local Government Board to local authorities, he argues, are likely to prove too local and =con- centrated to produce any great or permanent effect, and be strongly recommends legislation on the lines of the Danish Rat Act of 1907, preceded or accompanied by a Royal Com. mission to cover the entire ground of damage done to agriculture, or otherwise, by rats, sparrows, house-flies, &c. Under the provisions of the Danish Act, when local associations for the destruction of rats have proved their ability to expend not less than £625 per annum for three years, the local authorities must make provision for the re- ception and destruction of all rats killed in the district, and a premium of from lid. to 20. per head is to be paid out of local funds.
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