BOYS' BRIGADE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXX, Issue 13622, 21 April 1942, Page 7

BOYS' BRIGADE

INCREASE IN WAR TIME FIXE EFFORT REVEALED The British Isles companies of the Boys' Brigade have given the world a lead, for in this the third year of the world's greatest war. with cities lying in rubble, belts daily drawing tighter j>nd the income tax in the stratosphere, the Boys; Brigade annual collecting week resulted in £26,432 from 1620 companies, while the movement in New Zealand also increased considerably for 119 companies raised £IS4S despite depleted staffs and in some cases the N.C.O.'s alone carrying on. Good luck to them.

No doubt even in New Zealand, sooner or later, boys under IS will have to register and herein we can take a leaf out of the "book" of grief-stricken England, where any boy, registering at' army headquarters, who can claim membership of

the Boys' Brigade is regarded by the authorities as complying with the requirements. This we hope will be widely known, for with the exception of the handling of arms, the brigade can claim to be already giving its members an excellent allround training to equip them for services to their country in the widest sense of the term.

The Archbishop-elect of Canterbury is a senior vice-president of the movement and it is hoped that his successor at York will also accept office. New vice-presidents include the Rt. Hon. Lord Dunglass, M.P. (Scotland); Sir Norman Birkett (Birmingham); the Rt. Hon. Ernest Brown, M.P. (Minister of Health); Mr Claude Elliott (headmaster of Eton) and Mr Hugh Lyon (headmaster of Rugby). The leaving age at the end of the season in which a boy turns 17 has now been waived and boys (not commissioned) may remain until age of commission (19). Any boy now wishing to join whether he be 17 or more may do so for the former rule, too, has been set aside. To enable boys in England to still obtain gymnastic equipment for the brigade the Education Department grants up to ten clothingcoupons for each bona fide member who can purchase the clothes locally. Brotherhood

The flag of the brigade companies is that of St. Andrew and this is very fitting for was not St. Andrew the first missionary of the Gospel and also he was a boy's man for was it not through him that the Galilean boy gave his lunch to our blessed Lord who used it to feed the multitude? Our brotherhood and fellowship is marvellous, the whole world joined together in common loyalty to Jesus Chris: for with no other boys' movement on earth can this ever be attained whether in war or peace. "In Christ there is no east or west In Him no south or north But one great fellowship of love Throughout the whole wide earth."

We are years old. so join in congratulating the Church Lads' Brigade, our brother society, on reachingjits jubilee existence of 50 years in close friendship with us. Our worthy son. the Scout movement, now aged 34, has grown like the modem youth.—very tall and big but brotherhood without Christ is not the ideal. We are anxious lest

our son should forget Christ's command to turn its heathen troops towards the Saviour. Africa Does Not Lag. Many African officers and former Boys' Brigade members have enlisted in H.M. forces and as the result of their training have received early promotion in the army, especially in West Africa and the Auxiliary Pioneer Corps of Bechuanaland. How They Camp in Nigeria Vigorous enthusiasm is well shown in a recent camping exploit of our Nigerian comrades of the sth Plateau (Panyam) Company, connected with the Sudan United Mission. The officers and forty-eight boys camped at a village where the evangelist's house and the little church had collapsed. Captain David had told the Christians there that if they made ready the bricks, the 8.8. while at camp would erect new buildings. The boys marched twenty-five miles to the village, each carrying food for a week and a bundle of grass for roofing. On arrival

they did not pitch tents, but made themselves shelters, where they slept under the stars, or lay awake talking and laughing. The younger boys were cooks, hewers of firewood and carriers of water, while the rest set to work on the building operations. The captain did most of the actual brick-laying, but all worked hard from morn to 5 p.m. To round off the day they gave displays in the nearby villages and tin-mining camps, and preached the gospel to hundreds of amazed heathen and Mohammedans. Within a week the evangelist's house and the new church were completed. The company then marched, with band playing, all the way home, giving a display'and preaching at a large market en route. They reached home long after dark, a very weary, footsore and thoroughly happy company, all saying it had been a great week, and next dry season they wanted to do the same for another village. '"So," their missionai-y writes, "the boys are learning the joy of service." Singapore What invasion means to these conquered boys! Staff-Sergeant Ang Kheng Leng in a recent essay showed the high ideals and world-wide outlook of our Chinese comrades in the seven Singapore companies when he wrote,

"Christ called His disciples from their humble professions, trained and developed them until later they were known as people who had 'turned the world outside down' and by. their lives and works were drawing thousands to Christ. Can the 8.8. all over the world train boys so that they will become true Christian men and be instruments of peace to change the world? This is not an impossibility if we all can work together with determination to achieve our object." Danger in the Pacific The Rarotongan companies have been given big responsibilities in coast watching for enemy raiders around Cook Island shores and the Ist Samoan Company has amazed the whole community with the high quality of its work.