SCOUT NOTES

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 300, 15 September 1937, Page 5

SCOUT NOTES

Headquarters Notices

SIDESHOW EFFORTS

The Value of Smartness

(By

Ferao.)

Thought for the Week. \ The fellows who have restless, sleepless nights are those who have lazed away the sunshine.

Metropolitan Hcadquartei-s Notices. The metropolitan headquarters office will not be open next Saturday. Twelve rovers are requested to volunteer for service at a concert sponsored by the Smith Family on Sunday, September 19, at the De Luxe Theatre. Will they please report to Mr. Maxwell at 6.30 p.m. ? We have received a letter from Harry Allison, until recently cubmaster of the Terrace pack, who has been transferred to New Plymouth. He has got into touch with a new rovers crew there, and at the time of his letter was preparing to assist invest the rover mate and his second and was also getting ready for a week-end hike Harry ha s been one of the good old stalwarts of scouting in Wellington and his experience will be of great benefit in his new field. We wish him the best of success. The dates of the metropolitan competitions are as follows: Ambulance and signalling, Saturday, October 30; sketching, mapping and observation and deduction, Saturday, November 6.

Rover-Ranger Social. A rover-ranger social will be held on Saturday, October 2, at 8 p.m., in the Marjorie Newport Studio, Willis Street. A variety of enjoyable fare has been arranged and all metropolitan scouters are invited.

North District Dance. The Wadestown scouters announce that a north district dance will be held in the Parish Hall, Pitt Street, Wadestown, on Thursday, September 30. . Scouters are asked to keep this date in mind.

First Kelburn Group (1909). The twenty-eighth annual meeting of the above group will be held in the clubroom on Friday, September 17, at 7.45 p.m. Business: Group annual report, election of committees, general. Parents and friends of the group are requested to attend. Scouts and cubs will parade at 7 p.m.

Sideshows for Raising Troop Funds. Some troops may have erected sideshows at bazaars and other functions as a means of increasing troop funds. >' will be found that if patrols are allow 4 to make them one afternoon or paraii; night they will make a good surprise item or inter-patrol competition. A .programme of this description calls for great ingenuity of design and showmanship, besides giving practice in lashings, quoit making and other similar activities. A mock opening ceremony is desirable as it adds to the general amusement. The Value of Smartness.

I wonder if this year, besides putting our scouting into practice, we could also do our utmost to improve the smartness of the troops to which we belong. A slack troop lets down the movement badly, especially at public parades, and there is no excuse for any slackness. First, there is the way in which the uniform is worn. It is a very smart uniform, of which we may be proud, but there is nothing worse than a scout who is untidily dressed.

Although the chief scout has stated in “Scouting for Boys” that drill must not occupy the most important, (dace iu programmes, there are many troops who neglect drill entirely. "Scouts have to drill,” the chief scout writes, “to enable them to be moved quickly from one point to another in good order. Drill also sets them up, and makes them smart aud quick.” No troop can be efficient in scouting unless it is also smart and quick in its aetivitias, as when scouts carry out all orders given by a scouter or a patrol leader at the double and when there is instant silence when a scout calls his troop to the “alert.” If you were to ask any boy to which troop he would rather belong, a smart troop or a slack troop, you know what he would say. We want more scouters and more scouts, and it is only by improving ourselves in this way that the movement will go ahead, and, what is more important, we shall get. the most fun and .enjoyment out of scouting.

Ngaio Cub Pack. The latest scores in connection with the articles which the cubs are collecting in aid of their funds are as follows:— Commission: Raul 82, Peter 82, Bobbie 74, Bob 74. Clyde 18; total 357. Barloo : Jim 61, Lawrence 60. Morton 60, Allen 60, Bryan 60. Ashley 8; total 309.

Morse Code. Last week we ended up on a homely note with Goodoloodoil Naugli Zoo. which is the short form of “Good old N.Z.” iu Sig-Sim backslang. Perhaps the abbreviated title is not as familiar as “Good old Noo Zee,” but the backslang should be looked upon os merely a by-product of Sig-Sim Morse. The main feature of the nomenclature for the conventional a, b, e is that every name has a different vowel sound. Thus there are no rhymers, false, or otherwise, to confuse the checker of messages. Before we have a general survey of Sig-Sim and all its workings let us have our new a, b, c for tlie last time:

ac (opp) naugh beaut (opp) vav don (opp) av CUV (opp) uu fus (opp) loo good (opp) with jap (opp) o (lips pursed) kaf (opp) re (as in red) pol (opp) xyl queen (opp) yon zoo (opp) ugh I Spain (opp) night mo (and) om er (op.)) toy eye (opp) mon e.ss (opp) oh aytch (opp) chow