BOY SCOUTS RETURN

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21377, 21 January 1935, Page 4

BOY SCOUTS RETURN

NEW ZEALANDERS AT JAMBOREE IMPRESSED WITH RECEPTION IN VICTORIA Ninety North Island boy scouts who formed part of the New Zealand contingent of 240 at the World Jamboree in Victoria arrived in Christchurch on Saturday morning by the Maheno. As a pleasant conclusion to a very successful tour they took part later in the morning in the parade with Christchurch troops at the welcome to the Duke of Gloucester. Led by Commissioner Cooksey, the party on its return, was full of praise tor the manner in which the New Zealanders were received at the jamboree. The boys spent three weeks in Victoria, where nearly 12,000 boys were assembled. They arrived at Frankston, the site of the huge camp. 26 miles from Melbourne, six days before the jamboree began, to prepare for the big event, and at its conclusion they spent five days travelling to various places of interest as the guests of the Victorian scouts. The New Zealanders were particularly interested in seeing the ChiefScout, Lord Baden-Powell, who wore as many as 21 decorations conferred upon him in British and foreign countries in recognition of his work among boys. The New Zealand contingent itself was one of the most conspicuous

wearing its neat uniform with "all black" scarves and the New Zealand fernleaf. Scouts from the various countries prepared tbeir camp to depict features of their own land, and the New Zealanders arranged theirs with an entrance as to a Maori pa, and with palisades; their tents were made to look like Maori whares rather than .ordinary, tents, and a Maori watch tower was set up in the middle of the camp. Two hundred of the New Zealanders took part in an arena display and staged a Maori village scene. At the same time scouts from one of the Australian States showed a stage coach attacked by bushrangers, recalling the days of the Kelly gang. The jamboree had its own daily newspaper, and the arrangements for the huge number of scouts who attended were excellent. The New Zealanders were very lucky, one of the party remarked yesterday, in escaping the plight of those whose tents were washed out during the storm which occurred during the jamboree. The parades in the arena, he described as marvellous, particularly the last one, at which a march past was held and was participated in by all the scouts attending the jamboree.