ENDURANCE.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19332, 9 June 1928, Page 9

ENDURANCE.

SOME FREAK TESTS. AN AUSTRALIAN EPIDEMIC. '; (JBOM OTO OWS OORRESSOHDSHT.) SYDNEY, June 1. Australia just now is passing through a queer epidemic, numerous young men seeking notoriety by way of accomplishing feats of endurance. Queer ftS the epidemic is it has led to stranger developments, and to at least one Police Court case in.which the principals were charged with imposition. At Bathurst a young man from Coogee set out to break the record for oontinuous dancing. The police were suspicious of him and allege that when a constable visited .the casino the dancer and his attendant were asleep. Both were arrested and the world-be record-breaker danced his way to the Police Station, danced before the tergeant as he was being charged and searched, and danced his way to the cells, and danced while he was locked up in the cells. He maintained that he was perfectly genuine, and he was not going to allow a little thing like an arrest to interfere with his record. It has not been stated whether he succeeded in his object, but his dancing had ceased when he appeared before the Magistrate. He pleaded not guilty and his case was dismissed on a technicality. The case for the prosecution was that a constable visited the hall at 2 a.m. and found the place in darkness. He located a man in an ante-room, who said that the dancer was in another room dancing in the darkness because the light had affected his eyes. The constable returned at 5 o'clock with a civilian and then found that the dancer was asleep oh a couch. The man that was supposed to be keeping watch was also asleep. The same afternoon the police sergeant purchased tickets to -see the test, and the charge arose out of the sale of tickets to the sergeant Although the dancer had admitted going to sleep the prosecution failed on'the ground that the sergeant, when he purchased the tickets, knew' that the whole thing was a fake. Therefore it could not be said that the sergeant's money was secured by means of a false pretence. In another town, a young man had discovered that there was such a thing as a ball-punching record, and he thought it would be a good thing to try and break it. About fiye years ago a man at Rockhampton punched a ball for three or four days without stopping, and that record remains. The latest aspirant for the "honour" punched for nearly three days until he became temporarily blinded, and then retired. Nest Eric Sunderland, champion long distance walker in Victoria, announced that ho would dance from Melbourne to Geelong, a distance of 47 miles He succeeded and he claims to have established a record. Nobody is disputing that. He had relays of partners who accompanied him in motor-cars, and a gramophone on one of the cars provided the necessary music. He arrived in Melbourne as fresh as paint and continued his dancing for a quarter of an hour.