THE BOY SCOUTS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20179, 6 March 1931, Page 15

THE BOY SCOUTS.

CHIEF 1 SCOUT PLEASED WITH DOMINION. COLONEL LE BRETON'S ADDRESS. A meeting of Scouters, Cubjpastors, and Scout committees was held in the Jellicoe Hall last evening to meet Lieu-tenaijt-Golonol Le Breton, the touring commissioner, who is travelling . with Lord Baden-Powell, and to discuss with him Scouting problems in Canterbury. The Metropolitan Commissioner, Mr W. ££, Montgomery, presided, and with him on the platform were Commissioners Furbey, Crampton, Bich, and Tidswell. Towards tho end of the meeting Colonel Le Breton presented long-service medals to Seoutmnster J. E, Stokes, District Cubmaster J. G-. Y. Olds, and Cub-j master L. li. Berry, "No one can sue your Scouts without being impressed by their magnificent physique," said Colonel Le Breton in opening his address. "It makes us who come from England feel rather 'depressed. You suffered with us, of course, by losing most of your best men in the war, but we also suffered a long starvation when no boy had enough sugar, enough meat, enough butter, or enough potatoes in his diet and that lasted for fiyo years. One c&n ? t help feeling envious, therefore, when one sees your fine hearty boys and reflects that tlie boys of one's own country won't be like that until we get on to the generation that Ims been born since the war. "No ideal is worth having or even worth calling an ideal," Colonel Le Breton continued, "unless it is far beyond our reach and we have been given bjy the great man, whom it is our privilege to follow, ideals that we can only aim at, but that we must aim at constantly. A troop may bo 'just it' from the outside, but unless the fellow who ia in charge has kept in sight the Scout Law and the Scout ideals the troop will be no good at all. "All of us who are carrying on now have a double task. We've lost an enormous number of men who should be holping us and, Whom we.miss terribly in our work. Therefore the older oflleers must carry on longer and the Scouts themselves must shoulder responsibility at an earlier age, But you must always renjember /that we hav« to lead tlie men of tho future.

Training in New Zealand. "However, tho Chief is very satisfied with the Scouts out here," Colonel Le Breton concluded, "and you must all push hard and puph hard again until the movement covers the whole Dominion from end, to end."

In answer to a request from Commissioner Bich, Colonel Le Breton paid he had found the training in New Zealand to be excellent. The Rover's, for example, seemed to bo doing just" what tho Rovers were doing in England. Tho only development in the training in England that he knew of was a system of district courses for Scouters preparatory to their attendance at the main training school at (Jilwell. The Dominion Headquarters Commissioner, Major W. E. Eurbey, gave details to the meeting of the arrangements for the church parade that is to be held at the Cathedral on Sunday afternoon. "The occasion is the hand-ing-over of the flag brought back by the 1929 Jamboree party," said . Major Furbey. "It is a consecrated flag from the Cenotaph in Whitehall and is to be hung in the Cathedral for the Boy Scouts of New Zealand. Wo waited to hand it over until tho Chief Scout arrived because we felt it would impress on the boys the existence of a link between them and tho Cenotaph in London. Tho flag is a naval White Ensign and wo all realise very well how much we are indebted to the Navy for 'its work in the war." Other speakers were Commissioner Crampton, who gavo further details of the church parade • arrangpments, and Commissioners Rich and Tidswell. |

SCOUTING AND MILITARISM, NO RELATION BETWEEN THEM. ADDRESS BY COMMISSIONER. "We all know that the.Scouts are not a military body and do not en» courage militarism in' any sense or form, hut ,as you are in the Jellicoe Hall to-night I want to try to give you a just idoa of the soldiers of J*ew Zealand/' said tho Metropolitan Scout Commissioner, Mr W, H, Montgomery, when addressing a meeting qf Scouters, Cnb officers, and Scout Committees in the Jellicoo Hall ;last evening. r -r

* "When a wfr starts," the Commissioner continued, "the public says, 'What a good thing we've got some soldiers' and then proceed? to turn them into heroes on the spot- When thpy come back from the war the public does the same thing for a month pr ,Bq. ahel then begins to forget all -about them, A curious wave goes over the country during which the general dislike qf warfare is passed on to the soldiers and on to militarism in general. Just as the hero worship was wrong, so this is wrong. "Soldiers are no more and no less heroic than you or I, and wo should not forget what thoy have done. - Scouts should givq them what is due to them and remember that the Scout movement itsolf was founded in the 1 first instance by soldiers. • Let them remember this and give proper honour and appreciation to soldiers. "A good deal has been said lately abont'the Scout- uniform, but the Scout uniform is only to show that when a boy bocomes a Scout he is on exactly tho same level as everyone elso in the movement. The boys are then themselves uniform, and they make progress only by their own individual efforts. The uniform is a very simple one and a very unmilitary one. s There are no military ranks: in the Scout movement, there are no military badges, and the whole movement is entirely unmilitary. "I ask everyone to realise that we have no connexion with Soldiers and liono at all with the Defence Department, but I want yon' to givo to those who have fought for us in the past, and those who arc willing to fight in the future, their just dues."

Rally at show grounds. " '".M- ;! ■' :'-y■. ■ " ; - The gates at the Show Grounds will open at 11 a.in', to-morrow, and the grandstand at 12.30 p.m. Tickets will bo on sale at The Bristol up to 10.80 a.m. on Saturday, Motor-cars will- be.'admitted free at WhiteJeigh avenue gates only.