DOMINION HEADQUARTERS COUNCIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 6

DOMINION HEADQUARTERS COUNCIL.

ANNUAL REPORT CONCLUDED, FINANCE.

The movement has reached that stage in the dominion which makes it nccessary to seek some financial assistance from the public and some recognition from the Government. It is not fair that the men who devote their time and energies to the work should be asked to pay the piper as well. Yet up to the present that lias been done. Though the Defence Department acknowledges that wo are laying a better foundation in character among the boys who subsequently go on to them than they could ever hope to lay. and though the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are members of our council, we could not get even a concession on the railways to enable 'our troops to attend an inspection by Sir lan Plamilton to which they were invited. We should therefore make this a political question, and press it at the coming elections. During the past month I have approached a number of the wealthiest of the nonexecutive members of the council asking their assistance towards raising a fund to enable us to place the Sea Scout and the Senior Boy Scout schemes on a good footing, and to- enable us to have 2000 copies of the# “ Scout Law ” printed in chart form and hung on the walls of the public schools of the dominion. The response, however, has been most disappointing, a fact which seems to indicate that even many members of the council do not appreciate the work of the executive, nor have they the haziest notion of what we are doing for the youth of the dominion. In this connection, I beg to recommend that a special appeal should bo made to the public for financial help by moans of a circular setting out the aims and objects of the movement, the benefit the boys themselves receive from the training, the fact that employers of labour will have better service for wages paid, and the absolute necessity for financial assistance if the movement is to continue. General BadcnPoweU suggests that we should take advantage of the effort that is being made at Homo to raise an endowment fund of £250,000, and says that if we decide to do so Colonel Browning, 0.8., the Commissioner for Overseas, will assist us. CENSUS. The exact number of scouts in the dominion will not be known till the end of September next, but it is estimated that there are about 15,000 Boy Slcouts and 1000 officers engaged in their training. During the year ended May the following have been rogistcrcdi and commissions issued: — Commissioners 6, district commanders 9, scoutmasters 60, assistant scoutmasters 29, chief inspectors 10, provincial secretaries 4, district secretaries 6, examiners 20, chaplains 10; —total, 154. THANKS. In conclusion, I desire to thank the officers one and all for their self-sacrifice and devotion to the cause, for their loyalty to the council, and for the success which they have achieved. , I desire further to express on behalf of the organisation our highest appreciation of

the valuable services rendered to the movement by the press of the dominion, which has. done much in every centre to make the movement known, and to encourage both boys and men in the work. Finally,_ I desire to thank the members of the executive for the great assistance they have rendered mo in the discharge of my duties, and especially the secretary and quartermaster, without whose help it would have been impossible to carry on.