Boys And Brotherhood

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 4, 5 December 1947, Page 5

Boys And Brotherhood

Scout Commissioner’s Address To Rotarians Possibilities of the Boy Scout" movement as an instrument to promote better international understanding were stressed by Mr C. Kingsley-Smith, Scout Commissioner for the Bay of Plenty County of the movement, in an address at the Whakatane Rotary Club’s luncheon on Wednesday. He said he thought the Scout movement should be more closely linked with Rotary because in the first place it was an international movement to promote the brotherhood of man. Its ranks were open to all races and creeds. Lord Baden-Powell, the founder, during the defence of Mafeking in the Boer War, had reflected on the futility of war, its wastage, and the lasting hatreds that it bred, Mr Kingsley-Smith said. Lord BadenPowell felt that the answer lay in bringing together the young people of the world. With the idea of appealing to the adventurous imaginations of the young, he planned his youth movement along the lines of military scouting formations, with" instruction in bushcraft and the lore of the outdoors, but with the accent on brotherhood rather than bloodshed. Finally the. movement was launched in England in 1905 and came to New Zealand in 1908, Tauranga having the first troop. About 1912 it started in France and was adopted in America as an integral part of national youth work there. Following the first jamboree, the international angle of Scouting gained tremendous impetus.

During the 1914-18 war, Mr King-sley-Smith persued, Scouts the world over gave useful service wherever they could, and at the time of the first world jamboree after that war it was found that there were 7,000,000 scouts in the world but the number in New Zealand was only about 12,000. Under the drive of Sir Cyril Newall, that number had grown close on 20,000. Concerning the recent jamboree held in France Mr Kingsley-Smith said one might suppose it the last place for such a gathering at such a time, but she had there an example amongst 42,000 boys, including representatives of all countries lately our enemies, of the way in which people of different nations could work together in harmony. Mr Kingsley-Smith included in his address a brief sketch of the various grades of Scouting, from Cubs to Rovers, and an outline of the organisation in his district, which was catering at present for about 700.