KILLED A CAT

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 70, 24 March 1938, Page 11

KILLED A CAT

AND JAMMED A CITY.

THAT FATAL CURIOSITY

(From "The Post's" ReoresenTatlve.)

SYDNEY, March 17,

• Because an official cat hunting rats-| or mice touched'high-tension bars and wires at, the Ultimo power-house, Sydney suffered the most serious peakhour tram stoppage for years. Thousands were late for work and thousands more reached their jobs by other conveyances. Hundreds of.trams stood idle for periods up to 30 minutes on almost every line.,. . • , J Nearly 7000 volts passed through the cat and killed it when it placed a.paw j on a high-tension, copper- bar in the switch cubicle. A slight singing of fur was .the only outward damage to the cat. ...... i : ' \ . Trams stopped because an electric arc followed the short circuit caused by '■ the cat, the Chief Electrical Engineer of the Railways Department, Mr.', Myers,'"said: " "It actually blew one switch.to pieces and did a lot of miscellaneous damage./' That damage will cost a good deal for repairs.-. We keep the cats out of the turbine-room, and switch-room, but allow them in the boiler-room to keep down the rats,: which do .serious damage. This cat, however, was like the one described' by Kipling, that "walked by itself." It came from another floor to reach the switch" cubicle.

"I. think this is a case of curiosity being the fatal lure. It may have been chasing a rat or a mouse, but more likely was exploring to satisfy its curiosity. The' flap-door protecting the switch is not fastened; as, in the event of an explosion it can swing open and relieve any possible pressure. The cat evidently pushed it open and made; contact with the high-tension switch. There was a 'short.' The real trouble, However, was the dislocation' of switch gear, and the damage by other 'shorts' which followed." . •, .