SCOUTING NEWS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 08, Issue 92, 24 July 1945, Page 5

SCOUTING NEWS

IMPORTANT STEP TAKEN

BAY OF PLENTY, AREA

[ At a special meeting of delegates from all Boy Scout troop committees in the Tauranga area last Fri day evening it was decided to Lorm the first local Association in the Bay of Plenty Scout District. By this move the Mount Maunganui } Oropi } Bathlehem, Gate Pa and Tc Puke Sea & Land. Scouts will be welded together as an Association upon which will be represented members of local bodies and other organisations. By taking this step Tauranga has shown the way to the English scheme of Scout administration known as the County System. It entails the. appointment of a new District Corn-

mis&ioner who will have control of that defined area but who will be answerable to a County Commissioner who will still control the whole area of the Bay of Plenty. The new scheme approaches closer to that adopted by the Girl Guide movement throughout the whole of New Zealand. The next step, if Tauranga's example is followed,, is to bring the whole area into uniformity by splitting it up into smaller self-contain-ed groups, or Local Associations and appointing District Commissioners to control the troops within the Whakatane and Opotiki zones in much the same manner. If the scheme finds popular favour in both Whakatane and Opotiki it will mean that three new will be vacant together with a further post of Training Commissioner to ensure uniformity of Scouting everywhere. The County System has much to commend itself and will if introduced do much towards the consolidation of the movement in the respective areas. It is now for the present Commissioner to bring the matter before the Whakatane and Opotiki Scouters and Committees for the purpose of finalising the district decision if possible before the Annual Meeting in September.