BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3802, 31 August 1936, Page 8

BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT

MAKES LOYAL MEN AND GOOD CITIZENS. ADDRESS TO THE WELLINGTON ROTARY CLUB MEMBERS. The aims of the Boy Scout movement were the subject of an address given to members of the Wellington Rotary Club last Tuesday by the metropolitan commissioner of the Wellington Boy Scout Association, Mr H. V. Foster.

In explaining the Scout movement and what lay behind it Mr Foster gave an interesting account of the organisation, tracing the various steps in the progress of a scout from eight-year-old wolf cubs to rovers. There was no maximum age to the latter order of scouts, one of the present Ministers of the Crown being an active member.

The various grades were illustrated by representative members, who, on request, recited the scout law. This law—the foundation of the movement —is as follows:

1. A scout’s honour is to be trusted. 2. A scout is loyal to the King, his country, his officers, his parents, his employers, and to those under him. 3. A scout’s duty is to be useful and to help others. 4. A scout is a friend to all and a brother to every other scout, no matter to what special class the other belongs. 5. A scout is courteous. 6. A scout is a friend to animals. 7. A scout obeys orders of his parents, patrol leader, or scoutmaster without question. 8. A scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties. 9. A scout is thrifty. 10. A scout is clean in thought, word, and deed.

NON-MILITARY, BUT NOT ANTIMILITARY. “ Scouting is definitely non-mili-tary, but is not anti-military,” said Mr Foster. “The scout law itself is a complete answer to the charge of militarism sometimes levelled against the scout movement. It is inter-sec-tarian, but certainly not non-religi-ous. It has a definite spiritual basis, and its religious policy, which requires its members to belong to some church and to attend its services, was adopted with the approval of the heads of all denominations and a number of churches, Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Methodist, and Congregational, have troops actually attached to the church organisation, and until recently there was also an exclusively Jewish troop. “ Scouting is a brotherhood which does not recognise class. We have both officers and boys of all classes in the movement which overrides all class distinctions, proving that differences need not produce disharmony. No snob can be a real scout. “It is non-political,’ continued Mr Foster. “We are not concerned with members’ political opinions provided they can honestly subscribe to the promise (which you will remember requires loyalty). In New Zealand, as in other countries, members of all political parties are included in our ranks; indeed, a present Minister of the Crown is actually a member of a rover crew. I need not stress the well-known fact that the scout movement is non-racial. At a recent international jamboree scouts from 42 nations and 33 Empire branches of all races participated on the happiest of terms.

“ The cub promises to do a good turn to somebody every day, and the rover the same words but interpreted from the man’s point of view as meaning service to the community. Just think what that means when conscientiously pracised throughout the world,” said Mr Foster. “Last year there were 2000 life-saving awards. Mr F. Milner, headmaster of the Waitaki Boys’ High School, has said that the establishment of scout troops at the school was one of the best experiences he had ever undertaken, of very great benefit to the boys, the staff, and the school. Employers had noted a marked improvement in members of their staffs as the direct result of membership in the scout movement.”

In conclusion Mr Foster emphasised that no investment was so rich in dividends. Scouting could help to produce the finest type of citizen—it prompted individual, national, and international happiness; in time it would teach the world to think in terms of peace and not of war, but the community and the scout movement must co-operate if this proved system of character training was to come to fruition.