"MILITARY MAD."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1027, 17 January 1911, Page 5

"MILITARY MAD."

BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT. DISCUSSED BY MINISTERS. INTERESTING VIEWS. The Primitive Methodist Conference, yesterday discussed at some length .tho standing of the Boy Scout organisation and its hearing on the work of Church and Sunday School. The discussion . was opened by the Kcv. G. Knowles Smith, who moved, in terms of a recommenda-' tion by the Sunday School Committee, "That wo recommend our Sunday School throughout the .Dominion. to adopt tho Boy Scout movement." . Continuing tho debate in the afternoon, the president (the Rev. G. 11. Mann) said that personally he could not say lie was against the scout movement, but he found' 1 himself in a dilemma as to the direction in which it tended. They should very particularly inquire as to the working o£i the movement. The speaker had gathered' that it tended to como more and more nnder the sway of militarism. If it was to be merely a second edition of the cadet' movement, then he was very definitely op-' .posed to it. They did not want to teach, their young people how to kill, but howto build up a splendid character, and be*come of service to their fellows. ' „ A Transformation, Originally the Boy Scout movement was a peace movement, possibly in its ethical significance it was still a peace ■ movement, but to-day, as the speaker had observed it in GeraJdine, it was not a peace movement. Scouts and cadets and Territorials went into camp together.. The speaker took the very strongest' stand against scholars attending Sunday • Schools in their impressionable years - being brought into contact with tho influences that predominate in a Territorial camp. He thought-these would not tend ■to produce the right, type of character, and certainly they had a very detrimental . effect upon the training the boys received in Sunday School.. In England, where tha scout movement originated,. the I'rimitivo Methodist Church was evidently not impressed with its moral value. On the contrary, the Church at Home had disassociated itself-from the movement in th® most emphatic way, and instead had associated itself with" a movement known aa the Boys' and Girls' 1 . Life-Saving Brigade, an organisation which worked with admirable success. It assisted to bind young people to Church and Sunday School, and separated them effectually from militarism'!. The children were, trained in the arts of peace and their characters developed in tho direction that all should most earnestly desire. If the Church in England, where tho Boy Scout movement. originated, could not look upon it with favour and had disassociated itself in-an' emphatic manner from the movement, that' should give a lead to the Church in. New Zealand. Hero the Boy Scouts, in many, instances, had been brought into a - comradeship not likely to lead to the promo< tion of Christian organisation. The Rev. G. Knowles Smith interjected at this stage that tho president was' totally out in his facts.. He could give . facts that would explain statements tho president had made. A Necessary Comparison. Continuing, the president said he 1 thought it fair that the conference shouldhave the facts before it, and, make soma, sort of comparison between the, movement. adopted by the Church at Home.and : a movement that' was entirely different in; some important respects.' Concluding, Mr. Mann, reiterated that he was abso- • lutelj; opposed to anything in the shape of ,militarism l "because," he said, "I; reckon that New Zealand has gone military; mad." , r No Comfort. The Rev. G. Knowles .Smith said the Life-saving Brigade mentioned by the 'president had not been organised' in op- ' position- to the Boy Scout movement. It had been raised in opposition to the Boys'Brigade. The latter movement was objected to because of its military aspcct. The scout movement was one that could be carried on side by side with the Lifesaving Brigade., Another thing to remember was that under the law of this country beys on reaching tho fourth standard would in future have to join cadet corps unless they became Boy Scouts. The Rev. E. Drake; of Dunedin, said the Boy Scout movement had been captured as a substitute'(where objection was. taken) for the cadet movement. He sympathised with tho pence scout organisation, and looked with suspicion upon tha military' spirit that was so prominent to-day.; Often it, was not grounded on true patriotism, but on mere jingoism. They should not commit their Cnurch to a movement directed towards the slaying of men for the benefit nr aggrandisement' of any particular party. ' The peace scout, movement was one that might be of good service to the Church.' Mr. J. Pugh (Sunday School commissioner) contended that the peace scout movement Was directed wholly' towards the elevation of the character of boya. By sometimes neglecting to take the first step tho Church had lost ground., It should take up this peace .scout movement and develop it to the'best , advantage. . In answer to a question, Mr. Pugli said that Major Cosgrove was Chief Scoutmaster in New Zealand, but his duties in the latter capacity were ■ distinct from his military duties. , . "A Subtle Way." 1 , The Rev. E. Drake said some of them 'felt that the scout-movement was a subtle way of spreading militarism in the Dominion. Some of . the ■ succeeding speakers declared that the scout system should heopposed as part and parcel of an everdone military system, .while others • emphasised tho moral value of discipline and training enforced on tho boys in the course of their scout training. "If we don't, control these • movemenfs," said a speaker, "somebody else will, and you can depend upon it that- they are going . on all the time." Ultimately Mr. Smith's motion was carried.