A BRILLIANT CUT

Southland Times, Issue 21605, 18 January 1932, Page 6

A BRILLIANT CUT

WORLD’S SAWING RECORD FRASER BROTHERS BEAT PREVIOUS MARK SECOND ATTEMPT SUCCEEDS. It was a year last November since Southland was placed in the forefront of world affairs when, during the final stages of Australia's premier axemen’s carnival at Ulverstone, Tasmania, Fraser. Brothers, of Tokanui, established a world's record and placed themselves in the proud position of champion sawyers of lhe world by’ winning the Braddon Double-Handed Sawing Championship by one second in the record time of L 6 4-osec. Theirs was a brilliant effort which gained them world-wide fame and on their return to New Zealand the two brothers received a rousing welcome which showed no lack of appreciation of their performance. Since then their appearance in bushcraft events at various Southland sports meetings has been responsible for attracting the greatest public interest. This was much in evidence at the Otara Sports on Saturday afternoon, where the main, attraction was a successful attempt by Fraser brothers to break the world’s sawing record of 12scc for an 18-inch log. In their first attempt the Frasers equalled 12sec on a white pine log, using a special saw made by E. Catkins and Company, and set and sharpened by J. G. Matson, of Henderson, Auckland, who- donated the saw for the event. This saw has a length of six feet from handle to handle with a 15-19 gauge. In their second attempt using a saw set and sharpened by Mr McCallum, of Gorge Road, the sawyers smashed the record by 3-ssec, ripping through the log in 11 2-ssec. There is little doubt that the record will be recognized as three stop-watches all agreed exactly as to the time. The announcement of the result was greeted with prolonged cheering, for the brothers, who have become famous by their exploits with the saw, belong to the district and are very popular with local residents. Much of the. success of the Fraser brothers can be attributed to the training they have received from their father, Mr A. Fraser, of Tokanui, recognized as one of the best saw doctors in Southland. Their father has been well-known in sawmilling centres for many years and was one of the best sawyers in Southland over 20 years ago. H. and A. Fraser are both young men in the middle twenties and are natives of Southland. The champions spent their boyhood days at Waikawa, where their father was employed on Moffett’s mill, and at Tokanui, where they have worked at mills in the district. They first appeared in sawing events at the bushcraft contests of the Tokanui district and, displaying their father’s ability, they soon showed that they would be sawyers to be reckoned with in the future. Their father paid careful attention to their training and always attended the sports to see that their saw was in good order for the events. They have been first in their class for some time now, and their performance before leaving Tasmania, in establishing a world's record' in kamahi, and their subsequent brilliant effort at Otara on Saturday has classed them as outstanding exponents of the saw.