WORLD'S CHAMPION SHEARER.

Shannon News, 31 December 1923, Page 3

WORLD'S CHAMPION SHEARER.

m SHEEP IN NINE HOURS.

In, at/ii up-country woolshed near Waugaiiui, William Biggins, shore 406 I stheep in a day. This performance 1 made him a 'world's champion, .Alio achieveinent culls for narration, and [ the laurels of fame for an athletic triumph. It is usual for international heroes to make trial by combat, in an - arena, .and in the presence of thous- ; auds. Higghis. h a d a woolshcd lor I a stage, and only, Iris, mattes lor n audience. Instead oi press and cinema to bear witness to his ability, and ! to spread his reputation far and wide, his lame is in pwnt only on tiie wall of Iho shed, and in stencilled lettering on£ reads—"W. liigghltJ, 406." Set eyes on William lliggnis and see a fair-haired six-fooler of fourteen stone and ti) years, lie is clad in bhia denims • and sleeveless jersey, ! His bare aims are fleshy, but show suppleness. His feet are in sack moccasins. Royaiigs, belt and braces (made of string and motor tulbes) complete his raiment. I Wiggins, gioing for .a tally, seems [ at, ease. His gear is ready, headpiece oiled, port-nole open. He chats with a mate, glances into the pen, spots ! Mis first sneep, peeps out of tho -win- ! dow. Without looking he knows the *bess is about to strike the starting \ bell. He appears disinterested, but is as tense as a sprinter. "Clang 1" He is In the pen—no noise, no fuss. His. sheep must be kept quiet. He backs through the pull-out dragging his first. A quick glance notes his next—that bareheaded ewe which hi» knows will be in the same place ivhen wanted. He could find it iblindra&ded. It must be so if seconds are to be saved, and big figures made. He starts on the right side; a. quick trim here .and there/and down goes the machine on the flank; .wool that i is not' free breaks on his powerful [ forearm as the blow drives down tho side of"the leg; the wool pants from ! the track of the.comb, and pink gleaming skin appears. Up the right, down the left" of the .brisket. Across.. the belly—across, across—his free hand throwing aside the falling wool. He curves, with lissom wrist, a pliant blow around the crutch. Drawing the sheep to him li© shears, the left leg to the tail. Then to the head, and off comes the forelock. Now the ragged ends of the breast. Up the neck he thrusts under the wool, the machine' coming out behind the right car; the loop on nis arm >he breaks with a quick backward pull leaving in slight bare neck. Taws he opens' his sheep, lie finishes the neck, setting it to him by 'twisting the iliead. The cheeks are done, and turning, always quietly turning, a half shorn shoulder is finished with a couple of downward strokes before dropping the sh/eep to oiean up the ribs. Now, with long ! sweeping-blows from .tail to-'neck, the I fleece rolls off in waves of gold. Then I lliggins straightens and. shears the last, shoulder, down the last side, along the last .leg, and the. .ewe, naked, stripped of her property, is lookin.g out of the porthole. She has been on minute on the board; a push, and out she goes.

lligg»ns is off again, and dragging that sheep with the free, wool through the pull-out. Every muscle from Mead to toe is in concentrated action. Brain and eye ,are working in unison with hand and. ami. Bending and swaying' and balanced he holds a .full-grown sneep under perfect control, his strong right swinging and driving with perfect accuracy and rhythm. Alongside is a male, a .pacer, a "six furlong horse" stretching him to the utmost. The competitive spirit drives them. Pace is the whole thing —pactt Wiat depends upon study, training. l , accuracy and resolution. All jtbo- slay long, for nine solid hours, Higgins must go for it. The .slice* is like an oven. Sweat breaks out on bis brow, trickles down his face, and drops to the floor.. How he aches! His back is nearly broken with beading: his legs qiiiver Avith the strain of gripping; his ankles are tortured; his brain rings from the punching of the engine and the whirr of the pulleys. At it. Another sheep, a living hun-dred-weight, ,is dragged to the stand. pressing, turning, and the '/other sbloke" pushing .him all the time—so the day goes 0n —406 sheep, and eiwjes at that, is Higgins' tally for a day. Over twenty tons of living woigihit he drags, throws and holds—a. feat of pace, power and endurance that raises it to the highest rank of physical prowess.

Higgins uses the hroad camih. He has ah ingenious contrivance, a patent rack of his own invention, which etarts and stops Jhc machine. The weight of his hand-piece on the' rack cuts" off the powei\; the act of raising it Hi rows the Overhead gear nto action again. Thus, from the moment lie yrnsps his hand-piece he is ready for "action, a second or two is saved, an.cj his left' hand never leaves Ihe slutep. ,

William Higgins' record tally was niuide at Mr Bradley's shed at Motimahaki, in February, 1923, when he shore 406 Rom.ney-Oiicoln eWe s right out of the pfen, in 9 hours. In the first run of two hours 78 sheep were shorn. In the next .four runs of one and three-quarter, hours each he shore 80. 82', 85 ami 81 respectively. In the Anal sprint, ten sheep were finished in ten minutes, and Higgitis, it is said, "finished as fresh as a daisy."

Two combs were broken during the feat. Last year, in the same shed, he shore 3&5 in 8 hours 45 minutes. In the first run of two hours 80 sheep •were sl>orn; in the next flhree runs of one and three-quarter hours, 76, 79, and 76: in the last run ..of ono and ahalf hours 72 sheep .were done. Two years ago he shore 373 sheep at Mr W. G. Moore's shed, near Maxwelltown, in 8 hours 25 minutes, and Mr Mowe's comment wa s "the faster he goes the hefcter he does them." The records of William, Higgins nan be verified heyond question, and entitle Mm to rank as the shearer with the greatest tally to his credit, and the clmmpion pac&r in the woolsheds of the world.— •Waxiganui Chronicle.