STILL WAITING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 635, 17 January 1914, Page 6

STILL WAITING.

FEATS NOT YET ACCOMPLISHED, AND RECORDS THAT REMAIN TO BE BROKEN.

When in August, 1875, Captain Mat. Webb swam the English Channel ho created a record that stood rea::oiable chance of never being equalled With the lapse of years the feat gradually came to be regarded as practically impossible. Tides ar.il other conditions have altered in ths pact thirty-six years, so experts declare, and more than eighty r.nsuccessful attempts have been maue. Nov/ at last Burgess, the Yorkshire swimmer, has accomplished the tas'\, and added his name to the list of historic record-breakers.

But there are still quite a number of . unaccomplished l'eats awaiting th?ir conquerors. The glamour has -one from the North Pole since Peary rested there. But the South Polo still taunts the explorer, and various expeditions are! now attempting to find the "big nail" of the Southern hemisphere.

Since 1470, when the equator was first crossed, to the present day. many attempts have been made to reach it, but so far the record is held by Sir Ernest Shackleton, who, though he found the magnetic South Pole, was unable to get nearer the true Pole than 112 miles.

'J he explorers, indeed, have; still pknty of scope for " their ambition. There are whole regions still untouched in Central Asia, in the Sahara, the Arabian, Desert, and the region that stretches from the Nile to the Red Sea.

Or, if mountaineering makes more appeal, there are greater heights than Mont Blanc to be assailed. In the Himalayas are the three highest mountains in the world, the summits of which have never been touchedMount Everest (29,002 ft.), Mount Godwin-Austen, or K2, as it is sometimes called, which is only 750 ft. less than Everest, and Mount Kanchanjanga (28,150 ft.) So far the record is held by the Duke of Abruzzi, who in August, 1909 climbed Mount Godwin-Austen to the height of some 24,600 ft., some 3,650ft. from its summit.

Various efforts have been made to conquer these peaks, and not long ago an expedition set out to climb Kanchanjanga, but returned defeated, having lost four of their party in the attempt.

With the advent of the aeroplane a new world was thrown to record-breakers, and so rapidly does one big flight follow another that it is dangerous ( to speak of a record. But there are certain non-stop flights to be done both in Europe and America. At the moment the world's record for cross-country flying is held by Mr. Atwood, for a trip from St. Louis to New York. But the same aviator is even now attempting to beat this by a journey across America from Los Angeles.to New York.

And the Atlantic has still to be crossed by airship. Mr. Wellman, in the America, attempted it in October last year, but failed. In the realms of sport new records appear each year. But there are still some feats which are likely to remain unapproached.

Will any goalkeeper, for instance, ever again score a goal from his goal-kick ? It was actually done a Few years ago at Sunderland, when Charles Williams, the old Woolwich Arsenal, Norwich City, and BrentEord player, took a goalkick, and the ball, carried by the wind, struck o nc Df the opposing backs and flew into the net-

But sport is full of opportunities for the breaker of records. In racing no animal has yet won all the Ave classic races, though Sceptre, in 1902 won the One Thousand and Two Thousand Guineas, the Oaks, and St. Leger. Rugby football has its longest place kick and drop kick ; cricket h a s many records waiting to be broken. If you can swing a pair of clubs ;ontinuously for more than 5} hours Tom Burrows, the Australian champion, will lose his place ; and no Loxers have lasted longer than Bowen and Burke, who fought 110 rounds in 7 hours 19 minutes—then called it a Iraw !

In the growing of flowers an exhibitor at a London show this year earned fame by show'ing the first blue rose. But a black dahlia has yet to be propagated, and a genuine yellow sweet pea will make its fortunate grower a record-breaker among the. horticulturists of the world.—"Answers."