BOY SCOUTS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19892, 1 April 1930, Page 5

BOY SCOUTS.

GROWTH OF THE MOVE- • MENT. INFLUENCE OF THE JAMBOREE. (thom our owjr cobbxbpondent.) LONDON, February 20. In the' absence of Lord Baden-Powell, who has gone abroad for a holiday, Lord Hampton presided at the annual

meeting of the Council of the Boy Scouts' Association. In a letter to the Council the Chief Scout wrote that although the success of the Jamboree had been immediate, its ulterior effects were yet to come, and promised to be far-reaching. ' "Our methods can only adequately be judged by results," he went on. "Until Scouts grow into men, it is impossible to say whether Scout training really achieves the end aimed for—building of character and good citizenship. But the way in which the administrative duties at the Jamboree in the clearing up of the camp after all was over were carried out by the Eover Scouts showed, not merely in what they did, but in the spirit in which they did it, a universal sense of self-sacrifice and willing service which came up to our highest expectations, and proved that Scout training can, in understanding bands, achieve its aim. "Guarantee of Peace." . "The spirit of patriotism and love for the Old Country, which brought their fathers to setve together in the Great War, was at the Jamboree renewed in the new generation, and we f may well hope with lasting effect. A wider patriotism was awakened when these future men of the British Commonwealth mingled in their hundreds with the future men of forty-two different nations in a common comradeship that may live and help to form a guarantee for peace in the world in the years to come.'* Increase in Numbers. A remarkable growth in the movement was reported. The grand total of. all ranks in the British Empire, including British Scouts in foreign countries, was reported as 690,586, an increase of 36,456 over the preceding year. Great Britain and Ireland totalled 397,648, an increase of 27,392 over the previous year. The Scouts in Great Britain overseas totalled 290,977, an increase of 9300 on the previous year. The increase in the number of officers was 4540, making a total of 46,559. Commissioners had increased by 161, now numbering 2782. This increase, with the increase in other workers of 1438 to 16,376, was recorded as a sign of extended interest in the Scout movement. The International Bureau supplied the figure 1,907,. 772 as the total of Scouts definitely registered in the countries recognised by the International Committee, so far as could be ascertained to date. These fifures showed an increase of 122,212. The Wolf Cubs, the junior Boy Scouts, aged eight to 12, had increased by 20,000 in the United Kingdom, now totalling 143,841, and by 24,000 in the Empire, now totalling 213,630. Colonel A. D. Acland presented the financial report for the past year. The report showed an excess of income over expenditure, generally due to the World Jamboree, of £954%