SCOUT NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 23336, 21 October 1937, Page 16

SCOUT NOTES

(By

PATHFINDER)

The dance held by the Ist Invercargill Rovers and the St. John’s Rangers proved very enjoyable. Numbers were rather small to the detriment of funds, but those present proved the function was well worth repeating. In the Rawhiti cub pack D. Goodson passed his homecraft badge and J. Bath his first aider badge last week. The annual conference for South Island scouters over Labour week-end is being held in Timaru, as it was last year. The programme drawn up is as follows: Saturday evening, civic reception by the Mayor of Timaru; then attend the Highfield rovers’ dance; Sunday, “scouts own” service, rovers visit site of New Zealand moot next Easter, discussions, Gilwellian reunion, discussions; Monday, discussions, football match, Christchurch v. Timaru rovers. From this it appears it will not be an uninteresting conference but an active and enjoyable time. Cubmaster R. H. AJington and G. W. Alington will be representing Invercargill while Scoutmaster B. Wallace hopes to be present a portion of the time. Other local scouters will be busy with their troop camps. JELLICOE SEA SCOUTS During Labour week-end the Invercargill Sea Scouts are to receive a visit from the sea scouts of Dunedin. The main body of the visitors will consist of the Anderson’s Bay troop, who were hosts to the “Jellicoe” troop a few weeks ago. There will also be representatives of the Tomahawk, Macandrew’s Bay and Port Chalmers troops, some 40 or 50 sea scouts in all. Some of them will be billeted by the Invercargill boys, and the balance will go into camp. A full programme is being arranged for their entertainment, of boating, swimming and sports, and there will be a church parade at St. John’s Anglican Church on the Sunday morning. During the past few weeks the “Jellicoe” sea scouts have been hard at work repairing and painting their boats, which now present a very smart appearance. The slipway at the Avenal boatshed has been completely rebuilt and provided with iron rails (through the kindness of the Borstal authorities) so that it is now possible to launch the boats even at low tide. Dr Orbell, chairman of the Troop Committee, who has left on a visit to England and America, has kindly lent his outboard motor launch to the troop during' his absence. This will be a great asset and will considerably lessen the distance between Avenal and Sandy Point, the Mokomoko and other camping places, which previously could only be reached after two hours of hard pulling, very often under adverse weather conditions. The troop now has many influential friends among the citizens of Invercargill and with new boys joining up almost ever week, four officers on the “quarter-deck” and a strong committee of parents, a successful future is assured. During the winter months a great deal of useful work has been done at the club room parades in Tay street. Twelve recruits have passed the “tenderfoot” test and been “sworn in” at an investiture ceremony and twelve scouts now wear the “second-class” badge. In addition, the following proficiency badges have been won: Cook’s badge, four; entertainer’s badge, five; engineer metalworker, blacksmith and artist badges, one each. The majority of the scouts in the troop will be examined shortly for the oarsman and swimmers’ badges (which are essential to sea scout work) and keen rivalry exists between the four crews in the building up of points for the inter-crew competition, won on the last occasion by No. 1 starboard crew, who will have the honour of carrying the troop colour at the church parade next Sunday. Visitors will be very welcome at any of the functions to be held this week-end. ROVERS AT WORLD JAMBOREE The greatest—by common consent — of our five world jamborees is over, a triumph of organization and honest-to-goodness hard labour. » Remove the lid of this jamboree and what do we find? Rovers, rovers, rovers, with, of course, a biggish sprinkling of hard-working and hard-thinking scouters. They, it was, who kept the lid in place, and it was some lid, too, . a twenty-eight thousand boy-power lid, bless it, its ingredients stirred together for twelve good days and true, mixed with an abandon of goodwill and brotherliness, and baked in the sun which turned on the very first day of the jamboree and did not once give way to rain until the afternoon when half the lid had melted off homewards. But all that lid, a magnificent creation, a better token than any words can ever be, of the Chief Scout’s work, would have been a wasted effort had not the foundations which supported it been unselfishly and thoroughly laid and maintained. Thus it was that, for two years, Dutch rovers and others spent their every spare moment cutting fuel, digging, trenches, tending nurseries of treelets later to form natural screens around the necessaries of the jamboree camps, and in a score of other achievements carried a gigantic effort to complete success. The final arena events in a jamboree are always fraught with some degree of anxiety lest the demonstrations of loyalty towards the Chief Scout should become too ardent. So, here again, it was through two living walls of rovers that the chief passed from his dais to the Council Rock in the midst of the assembled scouts of the nations, 28,000 of them. The,living walls held for his return, the while he presented to contingent leaders a replica of the Jacob staff, the old Dutch navigators’ wooden compass, which was the symbol for this jamboree as the golden arrow, eight years ago, was for that at Arrowe Park, Birkenhead. “You have your lives before you, the chief told his sons. “I want them to be a success.” No one knew better than the chief that all around him 60 score and more rovers were actively living the rovers’ life of “service,” a goodly first step on their road to successful living. Indeed, twice did the chief, encompassed about with all manner of demands, visit tht* rovers in their camp, to tell them now greatly he appraised their labours in the hidden fastnesses that upheld this, the greatest of our jamborees. The Rover World.