THE SCOUT CHIEF.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 138, 28 May 1912, Page 6

THE SCOUT CHIEF.

I — — ; 1 t IVIC WELCOME AT AUCK- ! LAND. ; Auckland. May 2 s *. i Lieut.-General Sir Robert BadenPowell was welcomed this morning by th? Mayor and city councillors. There was a large gathering of citizens. The Mayor extended a cordial welcome. The General referred to the New Zealanders’ bravery in the Boer war and thanked New Zealanders for their presents. Speaking of the scout moxement. .the General said tnat different disci pline was required from that which controlled the old machine-made soldiers. They had now to deal with men of intelligence, and they found hv putting a boy on his honoui it enabled reliance to be placed in him. • MALE AND FEMALE LOAFERS. TOO LARGE A PERCENTAGE. BADEN-POWELL’S INDICTMENT. A cablegram from Sydney last week stated that General BadenPowell had severely condemned ‘loafers.” The condemnation was contained m a wrikten statement which he handeel to reporters, ■ and it is reproduced in the “Daily Telegraph.’’ The universal training fcr boys as cadets in Australia, he says, diminishes the need for Boy Scouts, but does not do away with it altogether. In the outlying districts, where the greater units of military training are not possible, the smaller unit of the Boy Scouts — six boys under their own leader—is 1 still feasible, and the scout training helps the cadet training, since it gives the ground work which is nowadays found to be essential before teaching a soldier drill —namely, the inculcation of the right spirit so much impressed by Lord Kitchener in his defence memorandum.

SOMEBODY’ ELSE’S JOB. ! General Baden-Powc’l severely I condemns “loafers,” and he includes in this category people of leisure who frivol aw'ay their lives aqually with the tramp who refuses to work. “We see a clean and smart looking young fellow driving a motor car,” he observes. “The brilliant colour of his socks is only equalled by the shine on his rather long and slimy hair. These are the most striking points about him. He is to be met in his hundreds driving about the country, healthy fellows, who do little else than 1011, like ladies, behind a steering wheel. They do, not get half the pleasure out of life as they might if they only knew. Whether men belong to the idle rich the idle middle, or the idle poor, it does not make much difference. They have no special regard for anybody else’s point, but their own; as to their country’s good being dependent on them, in any kind of way, it never enters their heads. ‘That is surely someone else’s job,’ they will tell you. 1, And yet there is urgent need need for the services of both for their country.” RICH MEN AND TRAMPS.

He speaks of the “racing loafer, for whom the sport of horse-racing is simply a means of killing time and avoiding boredom. ‘‘Such a man,” he remarks, “might with advantage read and digest Lord Selborne’s words, ‘The rich man who spends his life in mere enjoyment is, morally, no superior to the tramp.’ There may be obseiwed a fair proportion of ladies evidently in the same,line of business,” continues the Scoutmaster. “It is intended as a gentle hint —because I do not like to appear ungallant—that what I r.m saying here about, the men applies ■very largely also to the other sex. The waste of our human material of bodies and souls, of women as well as men, in the slums of our cities, is appalling, but it is almost equally prevalent in another way, though we do not as yet realise it. among our women as well as among our men of the better classes. There is a fearfully large percentage of loafers amongst them.” The General discusses “woman loafers,” and criticises the teaching of French and piano playing in schools. “During the investment of Mafeking,” he says, “one incident gave me particular pleasure. That was when a shell slammed itself into one of the thirteen pianos in the girls’ school at the convent. What is the gc-od in their life of painfully acquiring a certain facility in fingering a piano ? It does not help you to play a harp in the next I SPORT BY PROXY.

“The young man of the artisan class expects his football to be played for him by paid players while he loafs about looking on. The result is that he becomes a cipher among a crowd of others, inclined to be swayed by the feelings of the mass around him without exercising any individual self-control or responsibility. He just jeers or cheers with his neighbours as the fashion of the moment max decide. Our professional man takes his pleasure with the aid of a paid hand to do the xxork, xvhether it is to carry his golf clubs or land his fish. ‘ Oxer-civilisation, with its taxis

and State insurance, induces a moral ; ns well as a. physical fia.bbiness which j tend to make people into a nation of ’ lookers-on. and history tells us that when that stage is reached the end cl’ that nation it not far off. Perhaps the greatest warning in this connection is the fact that England lias already begun to suffer minor defeats both in the world of scientific invention, cf commerce and of sport - -through the one fault of not being adequately prepared ; in not beng properly awake. SCOUTING THE REMEDY. “Scouting is a practical form of < haracter training. It trains the i'.lual to lift clop personal charo •ter--honour. pluck, observation and deduction, self-reliance, energy a. d < hivalry. It develops proficience in handicrafts and public service. :: rd Imlpfulness to others, and if only , e..ie-tenth <?? what the boys learn ■ f icks to them it v ill make them I.’'it>r men than their fathers, i.'meng the striking results cf the j'..i>rc:i.ent «s that the spirit which o < 'd-i. • .nr to incident e is actual!.-. ' adopt eil by the boys. In the four

years, of the movement’s existence, awards have been mace as follows : Heroic life-saving, six ; life-saving at personal risk, 132; life-saving or specially meritorious acts, 149; minor meritorious acts, such as assistance to the police, fire brigade, or coastguards, 127. “The ‘sense of duty.’ discipline, as opposed to the ‘fear of punishment discipline is also' inculcated, and this is the secret of efficient military training for modern war. The days of barrack square drill and pipeclay are over, and never at their best were they applicable to the more alert and intelligent oversea troops. The Scout movement has been an instrument for good from the parents’ point of view', the boys’ point of view the State point of view, the Imperial point of view, and from ’ the international point of view, for the movement has spread into most of the civilised countries of the world, and friendships are encouraged between the boyS of the different nations, and so, in a small way, a step is being made to better international feeling, which may later on be of value when crises arise between nations.”

The Boy Scout movement in Napier has not, during the past fewmonths made the progress which was hoped for. Determined efforts were made to improve this unsatisfactory condition of matters and the strength of the corps now stands at a little over forty members. Under Scoutmaster Lovell, the scouts paraded last night in Clive Square in order to permit of arrangements being made for the participation of the corps in the welcome to be extended to General Baden-Powell at Wellington. The lads are enthusiastic regarding the visit to the capital and a party of thirty-three boys, under Scoutmaster Lovell, left per mail train this' morning to take part in the proceedings.