GIRL GUIDE MOVEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18578, 10 December 1923, Page 11

GIRL GUIDE MOVEMENT.

VISIT OF MISS PRIOR. CAPTAINS IN TRAINING. AN OVERSEAS HOME. . The arrival to-day of Miss Prior, van Imperial Guide, who has come to New Zealand to assist in the " organisation of the Girl Guide movement, directs attention to an effort that should have the support of all interested in the welfare and training of girls. A meeting will be held under the patronage of the •• GovernorGeneral and Lady Jellicoe, at the Town Hall concert chamber this evening, when addresses will be given by , Viscount Jellicoe, and Miss Prior. The Mayor, Mr. J. H. •■ Gunson, will preside.

A training camp for girl guide captains was opened on Saturday at ; Taft, ' St. Leonard's Road, Takapuna, 'and here, during the coming week, about 30 captains from various parts of the province will take a course of special training under the direction of Miss Prior. There will be a "field day" on Saturday next, to which the public are invited, and {in oppjrtunity will then be given for seeing how the girl guides work and play. The girl guide movement, being in its infancy in the Dominion, is not yet thoroughly understood, but there is no i doubt whatever that when its aims and methods are better known, it will become one of the most popular, as well as one of the most useful movements operating on behalf of the girls of New Zealand. Girl guiding is based on principles similar to those of the boy scouts. It. applies to girls of every class, in town and country, 'attracting them to the pursuit of activities and interests which will develop wider knowledge and practical. understanding 'of such matters as home-keeping, mother* craft, and citizenship. The line of training is in the direction of character-building, increase of skill and technical knowledge, improvement of health and physical development, and increased desire for service to others. In the present age of unquiet and changing standards, it is important that the energies of the young womanhood of the nation should be carefully directed into channels that will enable them to meet which are now .made on women in every rank of life. The girl guides' movement embodies three branches girls under 11, who are the "Brownies"; girl guides from 11 to 16; and rangers, girls over 16. The movement in Great Britain has been given the enthusiastic support of many prominent men and women, while the practical interest of Princess Mary, president of the British girl guides, is world-known. On© of the most important events in the history of the organisation was the presentation last year of a beautiful estate in the New Forest, consisting of a large country house and 60 acres of garden and woodland, to be used as a. rest home for tired or convalescent guide workers, and as a camping ground and training school for guides and guiders. To this magnificent gift, made by an American woman, Mrs, A. Saunderson. Princess Mary added £6000 from the sum presented to 'her by the Marys of the Empire, and a -further £4000 from • proceeds of the exhibition of her wedding presents. The place has been equipped and fitted up for its purpose, arid already many hundreds of oversea girl guide delegates and visitors have enjoyed the hospitality of Princess Mary House. Gifts for the furnishing of this beautiful girl guide homo have been received from all parts of the Empire and from America, and the great desire of its founders is that girl guides from every part of the world may visit it, and feel that to each of them, it is a real home-coming. r The girl guides of the Dominion will work on exactly the same lines as the parent organisation, and there is little doubt that when the movement becomes better known it will be'accorded the same measure of support in Auckland and other parts of the Dominion that lias followed its inauguration in countries overseas.