DUNEDIN BOY SCOUTS.

Otago Witness, 1 June 1910, Page 14

DUNEDIN BOY SCOUTS.

SENTIMENT AND UTILITY.

Outstanding among the ethics of all things military—and there can be little doubt that the Boy Scout movement bears a military significance—axe sentiment and utility. Some theoretical Ironside is 6ure to ask, "But why sentiment?" Well, in the first place, sentiment is a wonderful recruiting sergeant—possibly, the best we have; so, having gotten together our hosts by this means, it is but tactical that we should shut sentiment, with her tender feet and perfumery, outside the barrack gate, and make what she has given us into fine, hard, smashing machinery. The sentiment of the Boy Scout movement is undeniable. There are already 500 Boy Scouts in Dunedin, and it is purposed to set forth in this account whether or not they are useful, and, if so, to what extent. There is nothing like personal observation, so last nighl; one or cuu* reporters accompanied Scout-commander Jones (in charge of the movement in the Dunedin district) on his rounds.

A hall in Walker street contained many miniature figures in khaki and much earnest activity. These were the Pioneer Troop at work under their scoutmaster. Everything is practical. None of the nonsense, girlishness, or namby-pambyism wofully typical of other nurseries. Many of these boys are newly enlisted; none of them is very big. One sees a corporal a yard high putting a_ class through semaphore drill. The little corporal knows what he has to do, how to do it; does it. When a boy ens with his angles, making a " J " too much like the numerical sign, he checks him firmly but sympathetically, just as JMtish drill sergeants do —in the Drill Book. Othe.'s have a bandaged body on an improvised stretcher (two staves, two coats, and haversack for pillow). They know where he is hit and what they are bandaging and why. Another class (under its boy non-com.) ties krrots— sheepshank, clove hitch, bowline, etc. " Reef knot," orders the non-com. Mindful of the indiosyncrasies of knot-tiers from shop assistants outwards, you watch the process with anxiety, which proves groundless, for there is not a single ''grannie." "What's the knot for?" you ask a Scout. "For joining two ends of a rope together " comes the quick and strictly accurate reply. Every knotsman knows that to join two ends of a rope by means of the " grannie" is an unpardonable sin. Besides the semaphore class, there is another squad at flag drill. The youngsters know the Morse alphabet as well as the English.

The next point of call was a meeting of non-commissioned officers representing the various companies—grave and reverend seigneurs from 14 to 16 years of age. These male© suggestions for the good of the movement and the companies, which are considered by the executive. As the Scoutcommander enters the meeting springs smartly to attention, and then subsides again to business.

A sample of the busines: —" I beg to move," says a colour-sergeant, "that Scouts in future wear neither sheath knives or tomahawks on rhnrch parade." The motion being- seconded, another Scout remarks that sheath knives should be done away with altogether. "They make us look like cowboys." he adds. The motion is then put with despaleh, and cara-ied. The meeting is orderly, and while pointed debate is encouraged proclivities to longwindedness are nipped in the bud. Boys by these meetings are brought early into touch with responsibilities,, and are taught to manage their own affairs.

At the gymnasium in MoTay place the heart of the Dunedin Scout movement was beating healthily. Scoutmaster Carr was personally superintending the process. The '• first-aid" work, though bearing the unavoidable blemish of unreality, was being carried out in. a thorough and methodical manner. A score of cherubic boys were supposed to be suffering from many ghastly wounds. To look at the bandaged figures one would think there had been a recent visitation from a lyddite shell or a horde of Bagarra Arabs. Paradoxically enough, this department is at once the strength and. weakness of the movement. Its strength because of the ideal; its weakness because when one regards those rosy faces, curly heads, and fragile, boyish limbs pranked out with bandages, one realises more than ever that gaunt, cruel, crimson war is not for them, The haunting mother's face seems too near them somehow. Yet we have been taxed, and justly, with being content to cheer in our manhood millions at home while our striplings "go to the war." *Here in this very gymnasium are striplings zealously preparing for Avar. It is a glorious thing to die for one's country. It is a comfortable thing to make money for one's self. Here the ordering of things is more " regimental." There is discipline. Only the instructors (boys) do the talking. A squad is busy knotting. Splicing, seizing, and the ordinary bridge and spar lashings are also taught. The topography class is in charge of a scoutmaster, who maps on a black -board. Scouts have their own conventional signs. Miles are marked off on roads by ticks, till they resemble railways in military topography. They have signs for cattle, sheep, ships, sunken boats, and steamers, which shows that the Scouts' topography is to sharpen individual perceptions, and not to supply information for the G.O.C. Other squads are going through semaphore flag-drill and physical exercises. The walls are placarded with diagrams of knots, splices, lashings, first-aid work, physical exercises, and huge samples of Morse.

It is refreshing to note that Scouts are instructed how to hoist the Union Jack. The manner in which the flag has been I hoisted upside clown, notably at the Kitchen©/* celebrations, must have been distressing to patriots. The Jack upside down, if it means anything, signifies distress, which is hardly the ' impression Dunedin intends to convey ■■>• <uch occasion.

The play is as tho.ough as the work, and about 50 times as noisy. Squads melt. A space is cleared and occupied by wrestlers "on horseback." The charges are headlong and indiscriminate, the downfalls chaotic, and the applause deafening. To sum up, one has found that esprit de corps has laid a firm hold of these lads at an age when others do not know the meaning of the phrase. They are already disciplined to an appreciable extent. The methods of delegating the powers of control and instruction to the most promising of the boys themselves, has sown the seeds of self-reliance, self-restraint, and the power of command. They have a form of chivalry. Before a boy oan become a first-class Scout he must be' able to swim, to do his 15 mills' journey in a day, and his mile in 13 minutes. He must have 2s in the savings bank, the idea being to encourage thrift. The value of his topographical training in after military life can hardly be over-estimated. Boys and men outside the eervicc can never be got to do this. To them a hill is just a hill, which perhaps obstructs the view. To the trained eye that hill may decide the fate' of a continent It has been urged that one can always get information from the residents of a place, but that is exactly what you cannot do. If the residents are Pathans, Hindus, Chinese, or Arabs (who in this respect are veritable children of the devil),, they will lie to you. An Englishman, an Irishman, or a. New Zealander simply does not know, and if he does know his directions ai-o darkness. The Scout movement is xiseful in that it teaches boys to be men by training them in military qualities. Morris-tube galleries will probably be added. There would seem to be nothing unduly theatrical or nonsensical about the Scouts. There is a lurking danger—ablebodied men are not too conspicuous on public parades. The Scout may become an excuse.