§ Mr. KEIR HARDIEasked the Under-Secretary for India, whether he is aware that rats are as subject as human beings, to plague from infected soil, and that the appearance of sick or dead rats in a house is often the first indication the inhabitant has of danger from this source; and what special action is being taken by the Government of India to remove people from infected soil, the main cause of the continuance and spread of plague, in addition to destroying rats which are only at most a secondary cause in the spread of infection?
§ Mr. MONTAGUExhaustive inquiry has shown that the plague bacillus does not live in the soil. It speedily dies outside 213 the bodies of men or other animals. It is not therefore thought necessary to invite the people to submit themselves to the inconvenience of evacuating their houses unless the disease is present or is imminent in a locality.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODIs not it a fact that the authorities do remove people from the areas in which plague is rampant because of the infection in the soil?
§ Mr. MONTAGUNo. As I understand—it is a very difficult and complicated matter—the theory of soil infection has been abandoned as a result of scientific investigation. People are removed from infected localities when rats which are likely to carry infection are present in the localities.