BOY SCOUTS' SUCCESS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 13

BOY SCOUTS' SUCCESS.

SIR R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL INTERVIEWED.

The announcement in these columns (says the London "Standard") that Lieut.General Sir E. S. S. Baden-Powell was shortly to retire from the active list in order to devote more time to the Boy Scout movement did not come as a snrprise to those who are acquainted with the manner in which that movement has grown. To one of our General Baden-Powell said:—

"The Boy' Scouts have teen established as a distinct body a little less than two years ago, and already we have somewhere about 130,000 scouts on the roll in Great Britain alone. And the movement has 'caught on* finely in our colonies. In Toronto~we have 5000 members, while at Winnipeg, and, indeed, all over Canada, Boy Scouts are very numerous. We are sending a big party of our boys over to Canada next. August for a five weeks tour—in a measure a return of the visit, of the Canadian boys last year.. "In South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia the movement has also spread with great rapidity. The Governments of Canada and Now Zealand-have paid me the great compliment of adopting my scout handbook for use in the training of cadets, amd the Government of South Africa have started communication with me for the same object. "It ie very pleasing to me to see the way the boys at home here establish an entente with the boys of the colonies. Sir Percy Fitzpatrick has just come to out a-ssist-ance very finely in'this respect, for he has given , us 500 prizes to be competed for by patrols of eight boys in England and South Africa. The competing patrols* both in South Africa and at Home, have resolved themselves into committees to discuss the outfit required by any on 6 settling in the colony. Each patrol here is in correspondence with a patrol over in South Africa, and they are required to send in a joint report within six months. Bach committee has appointed one of their number as finance, member and another as equipment member, and prizes will be awarded to both the Home and the corresponding patrol.

Links With Overseas. "Another example of the entente between our Home boys and the colonials is tho recent presentation of a big flag by the boys of the Lewisham troop in Australia to tho Lewisham troop in London. The movement has als6 obtained a strong hold of the youth. of Servia, and even of Smyrna in Asia Minor, while I- received, some time ago, a letter from the Tsar, asking my permission for the translation of my book on scouting into Rus-sian.-Of course, I consented, and I have just received the work so translated. I am rather pleased to notice they have kept to. my illustrations as originally produced.- . ' i "But what gives me the greatest satisfaction is the number of letters I am receiving containing particulars of plucky or helpful acts performed by our boys. Nearly every day 1 receive at least one such letter, and very often two or three. Somo record a plucky achievement,. others merely give evidence of the boys' .willingness to help any one in distress whom they mayiind; but all testify alike to the same manliness which the boys are finding from their scouting. , "We have given-three of our bronze medals (our. Victoria Cross, awarded only to boys who save life, at the risk of their own); we haye also given 32 silver medals for saving life, 32 orders of merit for gallant actions—stopping runaway horses,• etc.—and 20 certificates for,meritorious conduct. -'■■■■■, ■.■■■■

"Some, of the actions for which these awards have.been made are very. fine. For instance, a bronzo medal-.was given to a boy who saved a lunatic from' drowning. , Tho,.man was very violent, and fought his" rescuer hard, and the boy in question had to keep on ducking hin; until he was nearly drowned before he was able to get Mm to land. They were fighting in tho water for ten. minutes before the scout got his man ashore, and then he .had to start at once on reviving the poor creature, and it was entirely owing to. the• boy's- knowledge;of live-sav-ing drill that i the man's life was saved.

.. Scouts' Gallant Deeds, .- -,: "Another letter I treasure, is the one I received'from the owner .of a bungalow at Shorcham. This bungalow caught fire, and a troop of Scouts rushed in. and brought out tho iman and woman who were living there. It was a brave act, too, on the part of a young boy, who stopped two runaway horses at imminent risk .to himself. .This lad caught up the cart as it raced along tho road, climbed into it from the back, found that the reins, were dangling, and climbed along' , the. polo and picked them up. '.Then, when he got back into the cart again, he found that , these reins were broken, and accordingly 'he went along tho pole again, almost to the end, and, picking up the fragments of reins, turned the horses on to a common and held them there. Aa it happened, he turned the cart at a spot a little in front of a echool that had just began-to empty itself of its scholars. "Several times T-have received accounts of our lads. going to' the assistance of the police at considerable risk to themselves, and quite recently, one of them was gn such an occasion badly injured, and had-to bo .taken to the hospital. Then, again, I , received " a letter. ..from a gentleman, the owner of a motor-car, whose car . fell into a ditch. -A Scout passed by, saw the plight of the "motorist, and fetched his troop along with ropes, which they attached to the car and thereby pulled it on to tho road again. This gentleman said he offered the boys a 'tip 5 for their help, but they refused, saying it was. 'part of, their business to do a good turn.' Accordingly, he offered to treat them to a tea, and they held a mooting, and '. eventually, came to the conclusion that this treat of a tea was not in the nature of a bribe and could be accepted. ' ' • . . .

"All these things naturally make me feel very proud of the Scouts, and it is therefore a source of gratification to me to know that our organisation is bo improved, and is really now on a sound working basis. We have a board of management which numbers amongst its members Lord Roberts and Lord Charles Beresford, and the good work that the movement has bo far accomplished seems likely to be considerably extended in the near future." \ ■