WIDE INFLUENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 59, 6 September 1941, Page 11

WIDE INFLUENCE

BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT

MAKING GOOD CITIZENS

ANNUAL MEETING

Scouters from all parts of the Dominion attended the annual meeting of the Dominion Council of the Boy Scouts' Association, held in Wellington yesterday afternoon.

The delegates were welcomed by Sir James Grose, who remarked that the record attendance was significant of the increased interest that was being taken in the movement. The number of Scouts in New Zealand had grown from 11,090 in 1937 to 15,711 at present, and they were all aware of the part the movement was playing in the war, especially in England.

It was highly encouraging that the representative of his Majesty the King in NewI*l1* 1 Zealand had accepted the post of Chief Scout in the Dominion, added Sir James, in welcoming the GovernorGeneral, Sir Cyril Newall.

. His Excellency was present during the conference proceedings and gave a short address. He subsequently presented four awards: The Silver Acorn to Mr. J. R. Middleton. and Medals of Merit to Messrs. J. C. Carter, W. 3. Fink, and C. L. S. Green, all of whom have had long and valuable association with the movement.

Mr. H. Christie, Dominion Chief Commissioner, in moving the adoption of the annual report, said it was gratifying to find that the movement had extended to places in the Dominion hitherto not active. The rising generation, he pointed out, th^y might or might not be" caught up in the actual turmoil of war, would one and all most assuredly be called upon later to shape the post-war world. There was no lack of boys fo" the scout movement, but what was needed was an increase in the number of scoutmasters, and he would appeal to all commissioners and others to keep their eyes open for likely men: they were there, but needed finding. MIGHT TRANSFORM THE WORLD. After apologising for the absence of | the Acting Prime Minister, the Attor- i ney-General (Mr. Mason) referred to | the Work of the movement's founder. There were now over 3,000,000 scouts in more than fifty countries, and there would be more had it not been for international convulsions. No education could be more beneficial to society than that given by the movement, and it might yet transform the world. The Government would give all encouragement possible to the movement, recognising that it made for good citizenship. Commissioner J. Evan Smith, Salvation Army, said that he was very glad arrangements had been made whereby the Salvation Army had linked up with the Boy Scout movement, for the latter's influence was inestimable. \The spirit of scouting, without doubt, would play a large part in fashioning the new world after the present conflict was over. Several other speakers stressed the fact that scouting-was something more than a game: the war had brought this home to many people, and it was now more generally realised than in the past that scouting was an admirable training for citizenship.

It was decided to send the following message to scouts in Britain:—"The Boy Scouts of New Zealand, through the Dominion Council in annual conference, send greetings to the Boy Scouts of Britain who are so nobly demonstrating to the world what Boy Scouts can do for their King and Country and in the service of humanity. Kia Ora and God bless you."

Tribute was paid by several speakers to the work done for scouting in New Zealand by the late Major F. W. Sandford.