DAMAGE BY A RAT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 19 August 1933, Page 12

DAMAGE BY A RAT

CAPITAL IN DARKNESS CANBERRA AND OTHER TOWNS The unknown urge' which compelled a rat to enter a v cubicle in the Canberra electric-power house after midnight recently resulted in Canberra, Quoanbeyan, Yass, Cootamundra and Burrinjuck being plunged into darkness, and the rat losing its life. The rat came into contact with the cable which conveys current to Queanbeyan; it caused a short circuit, which resulted in a blinding flash. It took half an-hour to restore'the light in Canberra, and two hours in Queaubeyan. An automatic device at the other centres came into operation, and the darkness there lasted only a few seconds. Several guests returning late to a Canberra hotel were handed candles as they entered. A number of bridge parties had to be abandoned, and those pedestrians caught unawares were at a loss to find their way along the maze of circuits and crescents that constitute the thoroughfares of the Federal capital city. '< The body of the rat, through which had passed 7000 volts of electric current, was found to be only slightly singed.