SCOUTING IN AUSTRIA

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20639, 30 January 1937, Page 17

SCOUTING IN AUSTRIA

LET’S TARE A TRIP THERE! The best way to learn about the Scouting in another country—or anything else for that matter is to go there. So fancy yourself (we’ll imagine your name is Toni) making up your mind to pass your holidays with us, (states a writer in “The Scout.”) You book a ticket for your journey at the Austrian State Travel Bureau in London, and off you go. You change trains twice on the Continent, in Paris and Innesbruck, and quite soon you are steaming into my town, Graz, and I am waiting on the platform to greet you. Don’t forget—Friday next. That’s the Meeting Night qf my Troop, the 3rd Graz.

I’ll get one of my Scouts to take you up to our Headquarters. He speaks a little English and some of the Troop learn English at school, but they hardly know enough to allow them to carry on a conversation.

Soon yqu come to our Headquarters. Here’s the old mill and here's the clubroom, just abpve the level of the wafer flowing into the mill's turbine. The room is entirely at our disposal and we do not have to pay any rent for the use of it.

Notice the pictures on the walls —St. George, our Patron, who is also the patron of all Christian Scouts, then Carlos’ "Pathfinder," and a portrait of the Chief Spppt. Now to meet our Patrols, Tom. They’re the Lions, Bears and Tigers. Each Patrol has its own Corner to which it sits upon boxes which act as store places for Patrol gear.

Three or four Patrols is the average number for an Austrian Troop, although there are Troops with as many as ten Patrols. You’ll notice that our uniform is not very different from yours. We wear navy shorts and khaki shirts. But the national dress of men and boys in the Alpine regions includes buckskin shorts and so many of the Scouts wear these. They have the advantage that you will not tear them should you slide down a slope on your “stern,” but if you get them wet you’ll find they are a jqlly sight more weighty than serge and take days to dry.

I see you are interested in qur badges. That one on the left breast pocket is thg Association Badge. There are two official Boy Scout Associations in

Austria, and between them they have a membership of about 10,000. And now I want you to meet P.L. Andy Forster—quite an English name, hasn’t he? As a matter qf fact, he once had a letter from Malaya, asking how, as an English boy, he came to be living in Austria. Andy is the P.L. of the Lions and our only First Class Scout. We have nine Second Class Scouts in tfie Troop, and on the Second Class Badge is written “Allzeit Berelt,” which means “Always Prepared.” Our Scout Law and promise are just the same as those given to English boys by the Chief Scout. Come and see some of the boys busy at Patrol work. This is on very similar lines to that in England—Kim’s Game, Tracking, Observation aijfi Deduction. And now just a moment. Ready, boys? Here is an Austrian Scout Yell: Scout Hurra, Austria, St. George, Graz, Hurra, Hurra! That’s English? Quite so, because it is intended to be used—and understood—at International Jamborees. Austrian Scouts have never missed a big Jamboree yet, and they look forward to the World Jamboree in Holland next year. And, may I add, Austrian contingents have always proved themselves efficient in Scouting work, though as the Movement has to support itself we cannot always afford to send out all our best fellows. Let us close with one of our Scout songs. You wouldn’t understand the words, so I’m providing you with the translation: “The woods are there for thee and me, The world is thine and mine, No one in luck alone will be, And none of us alone shall pine. Good night, boys!