BURGESS'S MAIDEN SPEECH.

Mataura Ensign, 4 November 1911, Page 4

BURGESS'S MAIDEN SPEECH.

•PURELY VEGETARIAN " SWIM. Mr Burgers, the conqueror of the Channel, made his first speech in public on September 15, when he was presented at a luncheon at the White City with the Alexander Cup, offered by Mr A. Alexander, president of the Channel Swimming Club, to anyone who emulated the feat of Captain Webb. "It was worse than the Channel," Mr Burgess confessed later, " —and the autographs." His wife and his father accompanied him, and he was warmly greeted by many well-known swimmers, including Mr Montague Holbein and Mr J. A. Jarvis, the amateur champion. Another guest was Mr Matthow Webb, tiie son of Captain Webb. Mr Horace Davenport, in presenting the cup, spoke of the tremendous strength of will required in achieving such a feat as swimming the Channel. Diffidently Mr Burgess rose to reply. "Several newspapers," he said, "have stated that In ma naturalised Frenchman. lam not; although I should not be ashamed to be a Frenchman." Ho urged the importance of swimming as a pastime, and pointed out that there was no reason why every child in Kngland should not learn what was an easy art. His Channel swim, he added, was purely a vegetarian swim. Replying to tho toast, "The Channel Swimmers," proposed by Mr E. H. Piekersgill, Mr Montague Holbein said it wa9 only those who had tried who were able to assess Mr Burgess' feat at its true value. It was not a question of getting within a mile from shore. The great fight came when within territorial waters. Mr Burgess mentioned that the tntal cost of all Ills various attempts to swim the Channel was about £IBOO.