Moscow, Jan. 8.
The horrors of famine "prevailing fu many parts of Soviet Russia have been intensified by plagues of rodents ud vermin which have suddenly appeared. in hitherto unknown multitudes, especially in southern Russia, is reported from the town of Dnjegropetrovak that the rats, ravenous with hunger, are so numerous to. recall 1 legend of the Pied. Pips Every. private house and every. store is over-run by thousands of rats, and "he preservation of foodstuffs is al~ most imporstbile, The police have ~rdered inhabitants to" keep the Ughts burning throughout the night in the hope of searing off the rodents. Rat aps are no longer obtainable and rat poison has long been told Out. Cate, after the Arst onslaught, proved entirely useless against the invaders.
Ar é last resource, a chemical sovie'y has been formed in order te Attempt the destrvetion of the pests by the use of poison as. provided the senation of the Moscow authorities is obtained—Trans-Ocean Kuo Min.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.