SCOUT NOTES

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 105, 15 April 1933, Page 10

SCOUT NOTES

(By

"Friar Tuck.")

COMMISSIONER'S LETTER. Dear Scouts, What a line old mess we have made of the world. it’s i splendid place really, but something, lias gone wrong with us. I think .i great deal is caused by the disregard of the Fecoud Scout Law. "A Scout s loyal to his God and his King.” Ju-t going to church on Sunday ami attending Bible Class does not necessarily mean that you are Joyal to your Gou. You’ve got to carry the ideals taught you there into your work. 1 think the best way to show our loyalty is to help others even if it means giving up something lor ourselves. Then you have got io stick to square dealing m business. Loyal to our King does not always mean fighting in war time, or flying flags on his birthday, or standing when the National Anthem is played. These are marks of loyalty. Our King represents the law of the laud and to be loyal to him means that we are law-abiding citizens working for the good of our country and not just for ourselves. There are many people about on the lookout for you young chaps, especially now when our country is so unsettled and we are lacing hard times. They will till your minds with poison and try t:> turn you against your God and your King. It you come across such people, just remember you ale a New Zealander, or I a Britisher, a member of the most I trusted nation in the world. You have one of the finest countries hi the world [ to live in. If you do not like it ami 1 the laws do not suit you or you ale not willing to live peacefully in it, it is your duty as a man to go to some other country that suits you heller There is an old Scotch proverb. "It H a dirty bird that fouls its own nest'’ ami that is ivi'v true. So be on yolll guard ami use your brains. Cheerio. “LITTLEJOHN.” BRITISH BIRD CENSUS. As you know, they have been counting the birds in England and it took many years to get a satisfactory count. The London starlings caused most trouble. They were eventually counted by a London Rover crew who found out the following rather interesting habits of these birds. As is usually the case in a bird census there were far less birds than one would imagine; on a -night in November when the count was made there were found to be 1.293 birds roosting on the National Gallery and 1,163 on St. Martin s Church. It was i-lsj found that star ,ng -hip in str ii A .r. biles and alowys on .-.bout the same level. The most strange thing of all is that they roust nhero possible in artificial light. This is proved by the fact that they sleep only on the S.E and Western sides of the National Gallery and regardless of wind or storm they sleep on Lie a tn ficially lit sides of St. .Martin's Church. TRAINING COURSE FOR SCOUTMASTERS. At a scooters meeting held last week it was decided to hold a scoutmasters’ training course in X’apief this winter. The course will be four nights and a field day, and he dates have been fixed well ahead so that scooters may keep them free. It will - tart on Wednesday May 31. On tlie King’s birthday, June" 3, there will be the fi-'f-i day at Rissington and the following Wednesday and Thursday nights June 7 and 8. If scooters have any friends who a'e interested and would like to join in, bring them along. THE STARMAN'S BADGE. In order to help those of you who are interested in the stars, I shall publish a series of articles on the subject which has been kindly compiled by Mr Rainfon, the Congregational Troops instructor, on that subject. “On the clear nights we have been having lately wo often look up at the stars, and I am sure that many of you wish that you knew about the stars, planets and comets. For a start let us imagine that we have ~a, sort of magic rocket, and we will |o on a trip and have a look at the sun and call on planets on the way. You know what planets are. They are bodies, which like our own earth, revolve round the sun, one of them taking a quarter of a year and another taking 250 years, but we will learn more about them on our way to the sun. We enter our rocket and start off towards the sun at a speed of over seven miles a second, for at any slower speed we would not be able to clear the earth’s pull. In a few minutes after we have settled down we look out of the thick windows and find things have changed amazingly. The whole sky has gone black and the stars shine out steadily without a twinkle, while the sun looks like a steely bluish ball of fire among them. "This is bcause we have left behind us all the air and the dust round the earth. When the light from the sun reaches the earth it bus to pass through a layer of air and dust and the dust scatters the light rays. The more dust there is the redder the sun gets. This accounts for the wonderful sunsets we have sometimes. Well, we must speed up cur rocket or it will take us ten weeks to reach the sun. "The earth behind us looks small already with clouds and haze and patches of sunshine and we watch the outline of Australia and Asia grow dimmer while New Zealand is just visible as a narrow speck. Looking ahead we can see with surprising clearness all the features of the moon. This is because there is no air round the moon. As we approach we see mountain ranges and valleys and craters ami wide flat deserts, all looking very clear and sharp. On coining nearer we find there is no waler. It has long smee been pulled off the moon together with the air. Consequently there is no vegetation or lilt, and as there has been no rain the hills remain sharp and rugged as when !hcy were formed. What is the surface of the moon made of that is reflects the light, vou naturally ask . It is now thought that the surface of the moon consists mostly of volcanic ash. We do not stop oii the moon this trip, but keep on towards the sim and next week wo will pass close to the two planets which are nearest the sun. By the way, the present tune of year is about the best to observe stars. About 10 p.m. Orion is sinking on his side in the west, while the Scorpion is rising in the east about the same time. Jupiter and 'Mars are at present almost overhead and very brilliant in. deed. Remember there is usually * star map in the front page of most atlases.