SCOUT NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 22732, 7 November 1935, Page 8

SCOUT NOTES

i By "I

PATHFINDER

SCOUTERS’ MEETING. The monthly meeting of scouters was held last Thursday evening. The annual report for the year just ended was submitted, the District Commissioner considering it showed the district had progressed in the right way during the year. The main part of the evening was taken up settling arrangements for the visit of Dunedin scouters over the 16th and 17th November. The sides and speakers on the subjects for debate were fixed while subjects for discussion were suggested and speakers also assigned. The programme will probably be as follows.—Saturday evening 7.30, conference; Sunday, church parade to St. Paul’s church at 11 a.m.; lunch at Riverton Rocks at 1.30 p.m.; trip to Tuatapere and back for the afternoon; dinner 5 p.m., finishing the arrangement. There will be about twenty-four visitors, who will travel by cars. Over two hundred copies per issue of the magazine “Scouts Own,” published by Dunedin headquarters were definitely ordered for distribution in this district. As a page will be added for cubs next year, more will probably be taken later.

The Commissioner gave each scouter a large number of pamphlets he had ■received from Imperial Headquarters. One of the examiners for the Athlete’s Badge requested that some alteration be made concerning the Scout’s Pace, so the meeting decided that this be considered satisfactory if the scoutmaster assures the examiner the boy can do this properly as required for the second class test. Some discussion on the advisability of holding special week-end camps for first class scouts brought the meeting to a close. A special meeting of all local scouters is called for this Thursday week to make sure of all arrangements for the following week-end. Scouts in England and Abroad. The next time a critic tells you that Scouting is quite a good game for the kids, remember these few examples of what Scouts are doing and make him think. The Scouts of Medstead, Cuffley and Warlingham wanted a swimming-bath; so did the villagers. The Scouts set to and the swimming baths exist.—Hefty work! If your house is on fire at Freshwater, 1.W., it is the Scouts who will put it out. Should you be unfortunate enough to meet with an accident on a busy main road, it is quite possible that Scouts will patch you up until the ambulance arrives, and in certain parts of the country Rover Scouts, assisting the Police, will control the traffic for you at busy cross-roads. If you were the child of a poor settler, spending your first Christmas in Canada, you would be surprised and delighted to receive a parcel of toys on Christmas Day. Canadian Scouts collect old toys, repair and paint them at established centres, and thus over 75,000 kiddies benefit. Canadian Scouts also play an active part in the re-afforestation of their land. In one section of Ontario 200 boys planted no less than 100,000 young trees. Indian Scouts have problems all their very own, and one very special service is “uplift.” The job is to convince the people herded in the dirty overcrowded villages that life is not nearly so black if only one will tackle the difficulties instead of lying down to them.

Roads to be mended, rubbish and dirt to be cleard away, houses to be repaired?—The scouts tackle the job and the people follow. In Nigeria the Rover Scouts run a free dispensary, mend the mud huts, and mat roofs for those unable to do it themselves, clear the springs and help the missionaries with any building there is to do.

In another part of Africa, Griqualand West, they use Alsatian dogs to guard the mines, and it is the Scouts who help to train them. Ceylon Scouts have a great achievement to their credit. They took Scouting to the big prison of Welikada, with astonishing results. The Scout Law succeeded where all else failed. In Paris we find the British Scouts there working strenuously throughout the summer, housing, feeding and guiding innumerable visitors to the Gay City, while in Gibraltar the same thing is happening for our brothers of the Deep Seas. We have touched but a fringe of the Empire in this article. A book is needed to record the achievements of Scouting throughout the world, a book that will prove the world a little brighter and more efficient for the game of Scouting for Boys. The Old Brown Wolf. Who’s coming hunting with me tonight?” Said the Old Brown Wolf to the Pack. The Cubs all answered in one long howl: “We’ll come if you teach us to track.” The Old Brown Wolf and his Cubs set out, And he taught them to hunt and track; And when the moon sank to rest at dawn, Brown Wolf and his Cubs came back.

“And now,” he said, as they reached their lair, “I have taught you the way to track, But one thing more you must bear .in mind; Don’t hunt for yourself, but your Pack!”

The Cubs’ Corner. —The Scout.