POWER MISHAP
SUPPLY CUT OFF INQUISITIVE OPOSSUM SHORT CIRCUIT IGNITES POLE [by telegraph —own correspondent] NEW PLYMOUTH, Tuesday Electric power was cut off in the Hurford ltoad district in unusual fashion this morning. For an hour and a-half work in the dairy factory on the road was delayed until repairs could be made temporarily. The inquisitiveness of an opossum was the cause. The animal climbed a power-line service pole, came in contact with a live wire, and was immediately killed. The charred body of the opossum acted as a short-circuit, which ignited the pole and cross-arms with the result that the top part of the pole was burned right through. The location of the scene of the trouble was made in an equally unusual fashion. Just before the power failed the wife of Mr. D. Krutz, a farmer in the district, noticed a strange noise in the radio set. At the same time a bull tied in a paddock broke its tether ring and rushed up to the house. Sensing that something had frightened the animal Mr. Krutz investigated and soon found the damage to the power pole.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23178, 26 October 1938, Page 12
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188POWER MISHAP New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23178, 26 October 1938, Page 12
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