EMERGENCY CALL OF SCOUTS

Southland Times, Issue 24112, 29 April 1940, Page 6

EMERGENCY CALL OF SCOUTS

PARADE IN EARLY MORNING GOOD RESPONSE OF CITY TROOPS The slumbers of many boys in Invercargill were rudely disturbed yesterday morning when they were roused at 7 o’clock for an emergency parade of boy scouts. The results of the parade, of which no warning had been given, were highly satisfactory, 100 boys responding promptly to the call and being allotted precise duties such as might be necessary in any emergency in the city. The object of the test was to see how rapidly the scouts of the city could be rallied. The commissioner (Mr G. E. T. Dorman) sent out at 7 a.m. a call to all scouters. Each troop had already prepared a scheme of communication among its own boys, but the actual day and hour of the call were known only to the scouters. Before 7.20 o’clock the first scouts had begun to arrive at the rallying point at the Technical College. By 7.30 40 or more were ready for orders. As the boys arrived they were detailed to report for duty at various points in the city according to the general emergency scheme. Allocation to the different posts was made according to the scouting qualifications held by the boys. Ambulance badge-holders were posted in groups to Kew and Dee street hospitals and Park and Cairnsmore hospitals. Cyclist badge-holders, accompanied by other boys as runners, were sent to such points as the Town Hall, the city engineer’s office, the gas and electricity departments, the railway station, post office, police station, Automobile Association, and all posts connected with the evacuation scheme. Signaller badge-holders were posted at vital points on the main roads. DUTIES ALLOTTED Nearly 100 scouts were eventually allotted precise duties and were also given practice in carrying and repeating correctly an oral message. The actual message was of a type likeb r to be sent during a real emergency and read as follows: “Fire spreading along Dee street west, Food stores threatened. Send 20 trucks. Gas mains burst. Signed: Be Prepared.” Although for some months past scouts had been warned that they would be called upon to help in case of alarm, this was the first occasion on which an actual unexpected call has been made. The results were very gratifying and it is hoped to repeat the experiment on a future occasion when more detailed arrangements will be made. Scouts will then proceed direct to their emergency posts, reporting to a responsible officer, and thus saving the necessity of wasting valuable time by awaiting orders at a central assembly. In spite of delays attendant upon a first practice the parade was dismissed by 8.45 a.m., each boy having previously been given a mug of cocoa and biscuits prepared by the female cubmasters of the Southern Cross troop.