SCOUTS AT POHANGINA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 50, 26 January 1933, Page 9

SCOUTS AT POHANGINA

WELL CONDUCTED CAMP. Nestling in a charming situation in the Pohangina Valley—the Goal Creek being on the one side with a bush clad hillside on the other —the Scouts’ Camp which is being attended by members of the All Saints’, Takaro, Northern, Ashhurst, Central, Te Awe Awe, West End and Terrace End troops is ideally situated for their period of annual training. There are 58 scouts under canvas, while acting as camp commandant is Scoutmaster C. E. Hyde, who is being assisted by Commissioner L. G. Callis, D.S.M. Scoutmaster Fordyce, of the Ashhurst troop, is fulfilling* the duties of quartermaster, while others in executive roles are Scoutmaster Buck and Cub Mistress Buck, Scouters E. T. Vasey, F. _ Cutler, Mountfort, Facer, Wildsmith, Romley and Levy. Since being established the District Conimissioner, Mr N. D. Stubbs, has paid several visits to the camp, and he has had nothing but praise for the site, the management of the camp, and the high standard attained by the boys. Another enthusiastic visitor was Commissioner Miss Nancy Wilson, Dominion' Akela Leader. The nightly “camp fires” have been a feature of the camp routine. On Sunday morning a “Scouts’ Own” devotional service was held, Commissioner Callis speaking to the boys on the life of St. Andrew. Mrs Buck read the lesson. Two days have been set aside for visitors, and on Sunday over 150 people visited the camp and about 100 on Anniversary Day. Among those who were present on Sunday was a contingent of Scouts from Dannevirke, Scoutmaster Parker being in charge of them.

With the day’s work behind them and the camp made snug for the night, the Scouts, each wrapped in his blanket, gather round the fire for a convivial hour before “turning in.” The “camp fire” is one of the pleasantest features of the camp life, and it is at these parades that official ceremonies are performed. Last evening Commissioner Stubbs was in attendance to do honour to the camp commandant, Scoutmaster Hyde. After the boys had joined in several rousing choruses, Commissioner Stubbs called to two Scouts to assist him in the pleasing ceremony of presenting “Lion Heart” with his warrant of office. The commissioner took the opportunity of congratulating the camp officials on the condition and conduct of the camp. “Many of you,” he said, “may have been in larger camps, but I am sure you have never been in a better one.” The commissioner then handed over the warrant.

Commissioner Callis, speaking on behalf of the boys, said they felt they could not leave the camp without having shown their appreciation of all Scoutmaster Hyde had done for them. It had been their wish, he added, that their camp chief should have a memento of the time spent in the Ngaputahi camp. With that object in view an official record of the camp, signed by District Commissioner Stubbs and visiting commissioners, and by all the Scouts and Cubs who had been in the camp, had been prepared and framed, and it was this that he asked Scoutmaster Hyde to accept. Thanking the boys for their gift, Scoutmaster Hyde said he would treasure the gift, which was a delightful memento of a most enjoyable camp. He hoped the boys, when they returned to their homes, would remember the lessons of the camp. Among the interested visitors at one of the evening “camp fires” were Mr and Mrs Harold Beetham, of Masterton, who are spending a holiday at “Ngaputahi,” Pohangina. It is on Mr Beetham’s property on which the camp has been established.