Scout News

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 118, 21 May 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

Scout News

(By ‘

“Lone Wolf.”)

’Conducted weekly in the interest of ( Scouting in the. district, and to ac- ; quaint the public with the work which Scouting embraces. All con- | tributions should be in the hands <d' “Lone Wolf,” care 217 Avenue, at the latest Saturday morning of each week. Woollams Cup. The result of last Saturday’s play Mosstown 12, Knox 3; Wanganui Cast 2.'!. Y.M.C.A. (J; Sea Scouts 17, Castleclift’ 0. This makes the points:— I Mosstown 2 i Wanganui East 2 j Sea Scouts 2 • Y.M.C.A 0 • Knox 0 I Cast Ic'd iff 0 ■ The second round will be played tojday at St. George’s Grounds as fol- [ lows:— 1.0 a.m.— Mosstown v. Sea Scouts; ; referee, Air. Head, senr. p.m. —Y.M.C.A. v. Knox. p.m.—Wanganui v. Ca-'Heelifl’; referee, Mr. Hodge. Mosstown Pack. On Saturday last the two members the Rover Cub commieteo paid a visit to this pack* They found just under twenty boys working well under their lady cubmaster, Miss M. B. Allan. They were very pleased to sec the Scouter of the group along assisting tho cubmaster in her work. The pack appears to be progressing very fa vourably. Number Seven. A Scout obeys orders of his parents, patrol leader, and scoutmaster without question. Even if he gets an order he does not like, he must do as ho would for his captain in a football team, ho must •carry it out all the same because it is his duty, and after he has done it he can come and state any reasons against it. But he must carry out the order at once. That is discipline. Seeonee Pack. The Ist Te Puriri pack was officially disbanded at the last campfire at the cubmasters’ training camp held in Auckland recently. The fraternal tics cannot be so lightly cast aside, ana at its next meeting the metropolitan executive will be asked to sanction tho formation of the Ist Auckland Seeonee Pack. Membership is open to all Auckland Club people, and is designed | to consolidate the work of the camp, to pass on to others the ideas gleanea at Te Puriri, and to generally advance cubbing in the Auckland metropolitan area. Commencing soon, the pack will meet on the first Monday in each month. May the pack enjoy good hunting. “B.P.’s” Talk. I read with interest the speech made by the Chief Scout at the Great Camp Fire nt the Kandersteg Rover Moot, held on. August 2nd, 1931, ami his finaT remarks to the rovers are well worth publishing. “See that you do better than we old bins who arc going out. And I hope you will have every success in doing so. •Show an example and you will have dozens of other fellows doing tho same thing. Then you will have a brotherhood throughout the manhood of the world. Carry on and do it, but if you see others doing it with long faces, kick them, kick them hard!” Local Rovers, please noote, and take these few lines to heart, a»’d don’t forget to kick hard Sea Scouting. A Scottish correspondent writes!— ‘ln October, 1 had tho pleasure of visiting the two troops on the Tay. Aty first port of call was the headquarters of the Duncan Sea Scouts at Broughty Ferry. 1 was taken out for a row, and was able *to see how well the boys could row, and also how they understood the currents on that rather tricky stretch of river. 1 was then taken ashore and given a very good exhibition of life-saving. The rocket , apparatus was one of their own rigging

I up. Next evening the Perth troop met at the harbour, with a launch ready to take me for an evening cruise down the river. I was delighted to find that the boys, under their enterprising scoutmaster, had actually built the hui of the launch themselves, also tilted her up, and a very good, sea-worth j little craft she is! They then proceeded to lit au engine in her, the product of Henn ford., t feel sure that the heart of Mr. I"i<. would indeed have rejoiced, could L. have seen how well the engine lid ■ work! Surely this all shows what poi-si lies there arc in sea scouting. At a very small cost to the troop funds, the Perth boys are able to go week end ‘•raises down the river, thus caimiuu for the good of their bodies, nd •- trust for the good of their minds." Our Unwritten Law. As the Chief tells us, the > Hi Scout Law—the unwritten one—is “A Scout is not a fool.", Like most unwritten laws, i: lia> a great deal of truth in it, and I an. afraid many of our fellows fall short in carrying out its spirit. But the fault lies not with them; in most cases wo ourselves are to blame. AVe carry out our patrol work on tin: righ* lines, we endeavour to instil Scouting knowledge into our chaps, but we hardly ever take in to account their training in what we might call wisdom. And that, I may say, is often the reason why the Scouts in our patrols seem so backward, are so hard to interest, and so slow in learning, You see, wisdom, we aro told, is the “right use of knowledge,” and unless our chaps get a good share of this quality they will continue to be backward and slow in learning, and will soon forget even what they do learn. But how can we teach wisdom and the spirit of tho eleventh Scout Law? We can’t; we can only inspire or en'•ourago them by our example, and Training our Scouts to get the best out of their senses—seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and lastly “common” sense. That sounds rather vague, but let us take our own selves first. I often have patrol-leaders asking me v hat are the best ways of becoming better leaders. I think it lies with losing the useless foolishness we all have in us and growing wiser. Of course, it is often a matter of experience, but there are many ways in which we can gain wisdom apart from reading learned and musty old books. The best thing, as I have said, is to train our senses. Seeing, let us better learn to observe, hearing, to make ears more acute, smelling, to try to follow the example of the bloodhound, tasting, to sharpen the necessary organs of tho mouth, and, towelling, to develop the delicate muscles that give us this power. It is not for me to say how this should bo done. Books have already been written on tho subject, and every troop and patrol library should contain them. It can best be done through various games and stunts and is simply a matter of sensible practice. The last sense—common—is perhaps most important of all, for it is really a sort of well-balanced use of all tho other senses. It is obtained by tho accumulation of general knwlcdge am! by experience. Here arc some ideas:— Good reading-*—not only books on Scout work, but even tho popular classics, and the best modern writers, Ihe intelligent reading of the daily newspaper by you older leaders. Being a good listener, attending meetings of other patrol leaders and ‘hearing what those with experience have to talk about, and when you have something useful to say yourself, getting up and saying it. Attend lectures and debates on all kinds of subjects if they are not too dry for you, follow your hobby or natural bent, or if you have gone into the world to earn your living make yourself proficient in your own job. Do your best in everything you do because it is you who are doing it. All this, though perhaps sounding rather a mouthful for the easy going

fellow, it well within the scope of tho “busy*’ leader, and incidentally develops one’s ability to lead. Whether or no he is a “barn” man it is the wise, energetic fellow who nearly always makes tho best leader. And now' for your patrol. Training them in wisdom is not so hard as it might at first seem. For the developImeni of tho senses we have all tho games and practises in obsorvnfion and tracking; wo can carry out stunts for encouraging better hearing, tho identification of noises, unfamiliar sounds and so on; we can sharpen the sense of smell and taste by such ideas as laying a “strong” scented trail to L followed, giving practical tests in both senses; and lastly we can develop tho sense of touch by such methods as identifying objects simply by touch, adding perhaps deduction, weight-judg-ing. and so on. You see, not only do tlfcse ideas train the senses of our chaps, but they suggest new schemes for tho patrol meeting, and patrol-leaders are always asking me what they can do besides badge work, which, believe mo, soma leaders can make dull. And now for common sense, or general knowledge. It must be > Lai nod by our Scouts hn much the same manner us wo, gained it ourselves—or as we are going to gain it! Discussions, troop debates, mock trials, plays and displays—all these encourage self-expression, and J he developments of reasoning powers, both important factors in common sense. Spin some good yarns to your chapt and encourage them to occasionally spin a yarn as well. Get them to read good books, and you might .avc a quarter of an hour of the patrol meeting devoted to reading aloud all rounl from one of the more popular classics. Encourage your fellows to come to you with their minor difficulties—no matter how r trifling—and help them to solve the troubles. With their bigger difficulties get them to sock the wider experience of tho scoutmaster.