SCOUT MOVEMENT

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26523, 11 September 1951, Page 3

SCOUT MOVEMENT

MR J. HARPER SPEAKS ON OBJECTIVES

Scouting was a challenge to one's faith- it accomplished its aim through appealing to a boy’s imagination and his natural desire to prove himself among his comrades, said Mr John Harper, Dominion director of training for the Boy Scouts’ Association of New Zealand, in an address at the annual meeting and conference of the Canterbury county of the association during the week-end. Mr Harper referred to the unsettled state of the world, and claimed that never was there a greater need for the right motive and desire to help a boy towards honest and courageous citizenship, Scouting, he said, was founded oh the fundamental law of love; the scout promise being nothing more or less than a boy’s interpretation of Christ’s words when he was asked which was the greatest commandment.

Love of God and love of neighbour, to the true scout, were an active responsibility which the boy learned through the outdoor activities so much in keeping with his natural desires and the training which ( made him both able and willing to help his fellows, said Mr Harper. He claimed that scouting was a challenge to selfpride, loyalty, and personal obligation to one’s physical, mental, and spiritual growth.