SCOUTS AND FINANCES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21346, 22 November 1932, Page 14

SCOUTS AND FINANCES

INCOME AND RESERVES

POOR PUBLIC SUPPORT

ANIMATED DISCUSSION

When a suggestion was made at tho annual meeting of tlie Dominion Council of tho Boy Scouts' Association in Wellington last Friday that tho anrtual income should bo expended in training and other ways, instead of being put to reserve, tho idea met with considerable opposition.

Following the adoption, of the annual report, Mr. J. S. Middleton moved the adoption of the balance-sheet, which, ho said, he regretted was not as good as they would like to see it. The Government grant had been stopped and they wore more or less living on capital. Expenditure had been reduced from £2OOO to a little over £IOOO and it was fortunate that in the past something had been put by for a rainy day.

Mr. H. Amos (Wellington), who seconded the motion, said that the organisation could not have been more economically controlled. At the same time, he did not think tho policy of trying to build up reserves from income was the right one. A reserve fund should not be built up out of income in such an organisation as the Boy Scouts. Tho money contributed by tho public should be spent on the Scouts. Ho would like next year to see tho association spend the accumulated fund of £I6OO on training. If reserves were desired they should be built up from bequests and donations. Tho speaker then referred to the levy of Is per Scout imposed last year, from which it was expected £6OO would be raised. It had not been possible to raise tho levy, as in Wellington alone it had taken them all their time to struggle through the year. "I am beginning to wonder if we cannot do too much for our future citizens/' said Mr. Amos, "and if tho public and parents will not support the honorary work of our officers better in the future than they have done in the past, tho best thing we can do will be to drop out of it." He alluded to the splendid effort at Christchurch, where 500 boys wore found jobs, and said as the jobs were there it might have been better had tho boys or parents gone out and found tho jobs for themselves. "Perhaps we are doing too much for th© rising generation, instead of them doing something for themselves," concluded Mr. Amos,

Other Members' Views

Mr. 11. Christie (Wanganui) said that if their cause was as good as they believed it to be they would have no difficulty in getting the citizens of the country to provide it with the necessary funds. ITe did not agree that they should get rid of the credit balance. Colonel It. C. Fenwick (Christchurch), honorary chief Dominion commissioner, said he could not believe Mr. Amos was serious in suggesting that the whole of the reserve should be spent. "I think he is pulling our leg," he added. Mr. Amos refuted this, saying that if they appealed to the public for funds tho reply was, "What about your accumulated funds?" Colonel Fenwick said that if such a policy as that advocated by Mr. Amos was adopted generally no one in New Zealand would have any money and if the council agreed to such a course he would get out of the movement. No business man would spend all he had in tho hope that somebody would give him something more to carry on. Not Bankrupt

The chairman, Mr. J. Rj, Kirk (Gisborne) said ho- did not like to do away with the levy, which was only a penny a month. Boys could get that by selling the old newspapers at homo and in other ways. That spirit must be inculcated in boys to-day as it had been in past generations. He also thought the council should not be restricted in its methods of obtaining finance. "This institution is by no means bankrupt, nor near being bankrupt," proceeded the chairman. "It won't be bankrupt. Wo must have a levy. If they won't do it, where are we ? Where is the loyalty ? Is it merely lip-loyalty 1"

Means ol Raising Funds

Dr. Marshal} Macdonald (Wellington) remarked that honest criticism should not be regarded as disloyalty. He instanced ways in which boys could raise money, one being the collection of ordinary used postage stamps, for which ho believed dealers paid 3d a hundred. He knew one boy who had £2O in his savings bank through doing that. He hardly liked to suggest an art union as a means of raising funds for the Scout moveinont, added the speaker, but it was a way of getting something from "flappers" and others who never spent money on any object except themselves.

Mr. Amos said that tho boys could not be expected to find more than they were doing at present. They were collecting papers and bottles. A "Scout shop" was started in Wellington, but was not a success, as it could not compete with the firms who were selling Scout equipment. Ho was personally £7O to £BO out of pockot over the shop. The motion, was carried.

It was decided to abolish the levy and to increase tho price of badges to tho price charged in Australia.