SCOUTS IN THE BAY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 223, 9 October 1940, Page 5

SCOUTS IN THE BAY

MEETING OF ASSOCIATION a LATE RALLY TO BE HELD MM Delegates Irom all parts of the Hay 'of .Plenty.:, attended the annual meeting' ol' the Boy Scouts Association, which took jjlace in Whakatane last Monday evening.. The main decision was that the Rally should be held this, year as usual in spite of the. war conditions, but thai it. should be held later in the year « (probably in March) which wonlii g|ve members a better chance to practice for the events and also pro\irte a move suitable period for boys likely to be- affected by the . dairying- season. Those present were Commissioner.' F. N. Christian (Tauranga), L.Flower (Tauranga), Mrs E„ F. Pole (Tauranga), S.M. C. P. Lucas (Whakatane), Mrs F.-Brownlee (Te Puke), G.M. Miss B. Fagan (Te: Puke), A. B. Fordyce (Te Puke), S.M. A. ~G. Wright (Paengaroa and Makctu), T. J. Watson, S.M. (Onepu),'A. R. N. Briggs, A.S.M. (Onepu), J. ,11. G . Shepherd Troop Leader (Te 'Puke), C. H. Murdoch (Tauranga), R. Brownlee (Te Pukg) W. Allexa (Tauranga), J. Boswell (Poroporo), C. Kingsley-Smitli (Whakatane). v In discussing the balance sheet which showed a credit of £7 12s lid. the Whakatane delegates offered to be responsible with Opotiki for tlie. settling of an account incurred during the Wellington camp when a strong wind damaged some of the tent equipment. District Levy. The fact that no levy was paid-to the Association by the various affiliated troops in the area was mem filmed by the chairman who also pointed out that the Dominion conference had strongly discouraged any compulsory levy. In tlie past, there had lfeen some voluntary contributions but these had been allowed to drop.- Members were of the opinion , that it was advisable to build up a central . fund against emergency or to meet general costs in connection with a distinct movement. It was therefore decided to leavy a voluntary contribution of Is per head per year on scouts, and | (id per head on Cubs, the money to be raised by methods completely at the discretion of the local com-" jn it tees. Annual Rally. The question of the Rally was discussed at some length. Mr Wright pointed out that in the c.oun try few boys over 12. years were unaffected by farm work and .it '■would be difficult if the Rally held at the same time (November) to guarantee a muster. The meeting unanimously favoured holding it if possible and it was finally de-; cided to arrange the meeting eariy in March, 1941, at Tauranga, . de-' tails to be left in the hands of the local committee.

The meeting endorsed the suggestion to include both semaphore and morse signalling codes in the competitions at the Rally, Mr Ward Allen's offer of a morse .practice key as first prize was grateful!} 7 accepted. , District Camps. The question of district camps was left to the individual committees to investigate and report back at the next meeting. Before concluding a motion instructing the secretary (Mr W. Al--len) to despatch to absent scouters on Active Service a message of cheer and goodwill was carried unanimously. The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chair. BOY SCOUTS ■'* " ' /■ ■ ONEPU TROOP The following scouts have qualified for their various badges:—* " Gardener's Badge: Patrol Leader B. Knight, 2nd Patrol Leader Rj'amieson. Master at Arms Badge: Scouts A., ; O'Brien and W. Lord. Second Patrol Leader F. Waidegrave received his Firs,t Class Badge, being the first one to qualify in the troop. Before being entitled to wear this badge, a scout has to pass a rather difficult test which includes: Swimming, Signalling, Pioneering, First Aid, Cooking, Mapping antl going a journey of 30 miles, camping kit being taken. Three other scouts have undertaken this test.