View report page

34
RATS AND MICE DESTRUCTION ACTS, 1921.
An Order of the Ministry of Health, dated the 10th August, 1922, is of interest
to Port Sanitary Authorities in that " whereas the powers and duties conferred or
imposed upon the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries under the Rats and Mice
(Destruction) Act, 1919, relate as respects port sanitary districts and vessels, to
matters affecting or incidental to the health of the people, and that it is expedient
that the said powers and duties should be transferred to the Minister of Health."
" On and after the date of this Order, the powers and duties of the Minister
of Agriculture and Fisheries under the Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, 1919, so
far as they relate to the supervision of the administration and enforcement of that
Act in any port sanitary district or in regard to vessels, shall be transferred to the
Minister of Health."
This is in conformity with the views of the Port Sanitary Authority with regard
to rat control, which has been considered as a matter of health. It will be recollected
that it was due to the work of your Worshipful Committee that Port Sanitary
Authorities were included in the various orders relating to rats and the above
enactment which followed on those orders.
The dual control which formerly existed in rat administration is now by this
order, in ports, consolidated in the single control of the Ministry of Health.