SCOUT NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 215, 9 August 1940, Page 2

SCOUT NOTES

A CORNWELL AWARD. (By “Rama.”) A remarkable story.of bravery lies behind the posthumous award of the bcou Cornwell Decoration to a junior engineer, John Dunn, who lost his life when the 8441-ton liner Domala was bomberl and set on fire by a Nazi plane in • English Channel. Engineer Dunn '«•’ 23 and a native of Kelty, life. Ue was a Deep Sea Rover Scout on board the u - mala and lor some years was an '' ant-scout matter of a Lanarkshire i P* The story of the Domala bombing i familiar to all. A Jlcinkel bomboi took the liner, dropped bombs, scorindirect hits and setting the ship on lire. Although Dunn had a broken leg, many severe injuries and burns, be ciaw - 300 feet down the engine room funnel through the flames and smoke, end then actually climbed a 40ft. escape ladder the main deck. “Ilis bravery and stamina were amazing,” said Chief Ofliccr IV. Brown. “At my request the na.val vessel sent . small boat away manned by brave volunteers to collect him, as all our» own boats had gone, but the severe weathe prevented their reaching us, and tn y had to return. With the fire rapidly approaching us I had to decide quick y. What I did was all that could ho done, and after I had secured him in a inched, and in addition made fast a lifebuoy to him, he was lowered into the sea with tho hope that the rescue ship could pieU him up. I foar ho died of his injuries before he entered the water, which w-ao merciful, as there seemed very little hope of his being picked up in such rough seas. During all the time we wore doing our best to save him he lay quiet and brave, and it will always bo my greatest regret that such bravery and stamina were not rewarded with the saving of Ins life. He protested when we placed him on a cradle to lowrv him into one of the boats. Till all right,” lie. said, “Carry on with the rescue work.’ ” It was only Dunn’s second voyage. HAND-BALL CONTEST. (By “Rangi.”)

The annual hand-ball contest for the Dalton Cup was held at All Saints’ Parish Ilall. In all seven troops were presented. The games were drawn as follow : StPatriek’s beat St. Peter’s; All Saints beat St. Paul’s; Terrace End beat To Awe Awe; semi-finals, St. Patrick’s beat AH' Saints’ and Terrace End beat West End; finals, St. Patrick’s beat terrace End. I—o.1 —0. The captain of the St. Patrick’s team, T. O’Doa, was presented with the cup by Scoulcr Call is. Tho games were played under a new set ot rules arid, considering that they had only been issued a fortnight before, too contest, the rules were well kept. Ihe , congratulations of all troops go to St.. ' Patrick's, who have won tho cup for tho second-timo running. The troop B teams played in the same order, All Saints team being the winners. TROOP JOTTINGS. St. Patrick’s Troop.—Last Sunday, breaking fine and clear, gave the troop a chance of going into the open air. RDinnan was successful in passing Ills sec-ond-class cooking and fire-lighting tests, while G. Willis and R. O’Keefe worn successful in lighting their fires with one match each. In the afternoon we played hockey. The owner of the land paid ns a visit, bringing with him bis three dogs, Bruce, Bob and Lassie.' 33 e did a good turn for him in appreciation of bis kindness. The meeting last week was conducted by the; A. The Tui Patrol again won the inspection. Mr Gill has kindly offered his I services as instructor for the ambulance i badge, and look a class of boys. 3V. Maxey . and R. O’Keefe nave passed their mile at Scouts’ pace. 3Ve played two games of ; dqtlgeball to liven us up. The troop was | represented by two teams in the handball j tournament —T. O’ Ilea (.:apt.), B. Creed, j B. Clapcott, J. Burns and B. Richards; j and the B loam by R. Keenan (eapt.), K. MacDonald, B. Reaburn. N. Gill and P. , O Grady. Scorers were J. Burns and B. Clapcott. Tho results appear in this column. In fcbr absence of “Eagle. Eye” (District Commissioner), “Ifawkeye” paid spe- j eial comment on the play in the games and particularly between St. Patrick’s and All Saints’. He asked the captain of St. Patrick’s/ (T. O’Dea) to come forward and receive the trophy for the second time in succession. No goal has been scored against us in either tournaments, due . to our excellent goalkeeper, Brian Rich- j ards. | St. Peter's Troop.—Second-class running tests were passed on Friday night by K. i Shipton, J. Jerisen, and S. Elphick. The j West End Troop’s assistant-scoutmaster j took the troop for a baka and Mr Charles took the troop for singing for the concert. 3rd Palmerston Nortli f 3 End) -Troop. —At our Monday night parade wo prae- J tised bandaging and had dodgc : ball. The j scoutmaster, “Manua,” was away on holiday and was unable to attend; this .was the first night that bo had missed since be became scoutmaster. Looking through the log book we came across a funny incident in our cycle tour through Marton and 33 r anganui. The troops had ridden their cycles under the blazing sun from Paimcrston North to Marton, and on arrival at their destination had all felt tired and hot. Most, boys stripped down and had a sponge in a nearby stream. One scout stripped to his shorts and went for a walk through tho bush. All went well till he came to a clearing and on seeing some “boxes” went to investigate. But they wore not only boxes—they were bee hives. One bco stung him on tho elbow and so our scout quickly cleared out and arrived back at camp so fast that wo thought half a dozen bulls were after him.

4th Palmerston North (All Saints’) Troop.—Our meeting opened with flagbreak and prayers, followed by inspection, which was won by the Tui Patrol. Several games of a warming-up nature followed. The troop cleaned up downstairs after the handball competition on Thursday night. Wo congratulate St. Patrick’s on winning the Dalton Trophy. Tenderfoot and sec-ond-class work was revised for the rally in the patrol-comers. “Hawkoyc” continued his talks on ambulance work, after which wo played “big ring” till flag-down. A court of honour followed. sth (Tc Awe Awe) Troop.—The meeting opened with flag-break and was followed by patrol corners, during which the leaders instructed their patrols in secondclass work, which included lashing and ambitlanco methods. This was Wowed by lengthy practice of the A and B handball teams. The cup was won by the Panther Patrol this month, by 20 points, from the next patrol, as handicraft lias been brought every night and a considerable number of badges have been won. Troop-Leader J. Taylor, who has been attending the Cub meetings and assisting the cub mistresses for a considerable- time, was awarded his Cub instructor’s badge. 2nd (Terrace End) Troop.—The recent inspection was considerably improved by the appearance of staves and was won by the Wcka patrol. With the help of staves wo had three obstacle races, two of which were won by the Kiwi patrol, the other hy the Tui. The troop congratulates St. Patrick’s on winning the handball cup.' Mr Mewott visited ns during the evening and insneoted our badge work classes. All Saints’ Cub Pack.—lnstead of a pack meeting we had a “Cowboy and Indian” party. There were nine Cubs who came dressed as Indians, and eight who came as cowboys. We had a password and sign which wore told to the Cubs after church parade last Sunday. There wore many blood-curdling yells which came from the Indians, and also many loud, unexpected , bangs from the cowboys’ guns. After some games of “company will advance,” tunnel ball, “King Dick,” and “Ships,” we had supper. Before wo went, home we were told of a football match which will take place against St. Patrick’s Cub pack. West End Pack. —Our meeting opened with a grand howl and inspection, after which each six sat at their corners for their bandaging and knot-tying tests. After corner work we decided to have* guinea—shops, a relay and a clock game.