PROMOTING FRIENDSHIP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22917, 21 December 1937, Page 3

PROMOTING FRIENDSHIP

GUIDE MOVEMENT PROGRESS IN ENGLAND A visitor to Auckland by the Awatea yesterday was Miss M. C. Gowring. district commissioner of girl guides for the Fosse division, Chippenham, Wiltshire, who is travelling with her father, Canon Gowring, rector of Grittleton. Although Miss Gowring's stay in New Zealand is not officially connected with guiding, she expressed the hope that she would have the opportunity of visiting guide companies in the Dominion. Speaking of the guide movement in England, Miss Gowring said it seemed to be growing very rapidly, while the international aspect of the movement was gaining in importance.

"The girl guide movement is one of the greatest international organisations in existence, J ' she said. She considered that the promotion of friendship and understanding between girls of different nationalities was one of the most important aspects of the movement. Al-

though neither Germany nor Italy possessed a girl guide organisation, in almost every other country the movement was expanding widely. Miss Gowring was particularly enthusiastic about Sweden and Norway, where, as in the other Baltic countries, the girl guide movement was very strong. In India also an already strong organisation was rapidly growing. From the international aspect, world guide camps were of the greatest value, added Miss Gowring. She was particularly impressed by the way in which the girls overcame the language barrier as they seemed never to have any difficulty in making themselves understood. This, she thought, was very largely due to the fact that in many European countries and particularly in the Baltic counties, English was taught in schools. Miss Gowring said thjit she had been guiding for 20 years. At the conclusion of her tour in New Zealand, she expects to sail for England by the Arawa on May 20,