VALUE OF SCOUTING

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 54, 27 November 1937, Page 10

VALUE OF SCOUTING

Developing Attributes Of Good Citizenship

TRIBUTE BY LORD GALWAY

“I feel very strongly the importance of the movement and how essential it is,in the training of our boys to become good citizens of the future,” said the Chief Scout, his Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Galway, speaking at the annual meeting of the Dominion Council of the Boy Scouts’ Association of New Zealand at Wellington yesterday.

There was no training so fine as scouting for developing the attributes of good citizenship—self-discipline and sympathy with those in need of help, continued Lord Galway. He commended the suggestion that Scouts should be boys of the open air—boys of the sea, the hills and the countryside. ‘‘That is what we want them to be,” he said. Lord Galway expressed pleasure at being able to be present to hear a report on the state of scouting in New Zealand and to say a word of encouragement to those associated with the movement.

He welcomed the transfer of the headquarters to Wellington, because it seemed to him essential, if the movement were to carry full weight, that the headquarters should be in the capital city. “I have had a letter from the World Chief Scout, Lord Baden Powell, in which he heartily concurs with me in this and sends you his good wishes for success,” he said. ‘‘We are passing from an old to a new order, moving perhaps to more strenuous times, but' I feel that it is for the good of scouting, and that you can go forward with confidence and strength, with your feet on firm ground. I feel, that, as the value and worth of the movement become more widely recognised, you will find that your difficulties will pass.” He had heard it suggested that the Government might be approached for financial assistance, but be considered that a movement such as Scouting should be a virile one and one able to stand on its own feet. His Excellency expressed confidence that the public would give ready support to those who had at heart the training of the country’s youth in such an excellent and worthy cause. Lord Galway said that he, personally, would be delighted fio do anything he could to encourage the movement, and promised that he would do his best to visit scout camps in the Dominion.