OTAKI BOY SCOUTS

Chronicle (Levin), 17 December 1946, Page 2

OTAKI BOY SCOUTS

VISIT OF COMMISSldNBR A committee meeting of the Otaki Boy Scouts' Association was held recently at Mr. and Mrs. Rule's residence, and Was attended by Messrs. Rule (in the chair)-, Kelly, Stephenson, Hannah and Moss, Mesdames Synnott, Rule, Moffatt and Henwood and Miss Street (secretary) . Also present were the county commissioners, Messrs. Henderson and Macall. Apologies were received from Messrs. Edhouse and Nicolson and Mrs. Allan. The balance sheet in connection With the recent exhibition was read. It showed a credit balance of £32 2s 4d, which was very pleasing.

Reporting cn the card evenings, Mrs. Synnott said that at the last 1 two meetings there had not been so many players as usual. The resignation of the secretary, Miss Street, was received with regret, and on behalf of the members of the committee, Mrs. Rule presented her with a beautiful bouquet of sweet peas, pinks and carnations. The secretary was asked to carry on in the meantime until anotfier appointment could be made. It was decided to leave the matter of members of the committee jvisiting the Hobbies Club exhibition to their own discretion, and not to send a party. i Mr. Henderson stated that he had .visited the troop before coming to ithe meeting. He said he hoped it j would be possible to arrange for 1 visits from scouts from Wellington occasionally, so that the Otaki boys would not feel left out of j things, and would do everything possible to promote these visits. jMr. Henderson said- he quite reallises the difficulties in obtaining a scoutmaster, and sympathises with I Mr. Moss in not being able to obtain ,aid. He said the position was the |same everywhere. j Mr. Henderson then went on to Sgive a brief talk on the scout ; exhibition, held recently, and said That he hoped when the next one was held that it would be in the Town Hall. ! Mr. Rule referred to the fact that the committee comprised members who had been on it for years, and that the parents of the boys took lifctle or no interest in matters concerning the troop. Mr. McCall, (replying, said that the same diffiiculties were experienced in all dis1 tricts and although the parents were supposed to form thes committee and attend to matters, they ^could-not find on C 'CO mmi tt o c - c o m - prised of parents. ; On being invited to address the meeting, Mr. Henderson said that he knew there was a great deal of work to be done in forming and keeping a troop going. The scoutmaster had quite enough to do in training the boys and the committee had to do the rest. In Wellington they were aimirig at publicity. Although he himself did not care for the idea. he realised they had to come more into the open than in the past. He said that in past years people had not realised that there were scouts. Mr. Henderson said there was talk of having a county rally sametime in the future, and if the Otaki group would care to join Ln he would be delighted, ahd ' '"uld nd particulars when somerr defmite has been framyd. - e were a number of plans . wa y -for scout shows, etc., but hing had been finally decided -n . Mr. Henderson went on to say 'hat there was a move on foot to - 'nblish local associations, and should be one for each dtstrict. A local association admin- •:* d the di.strict it covered, and ^ formed by two or three memfrom each committee. Each local association had two or three ci^mbe-s from the scout committee in Wellington. Mr. Moss said that in the last few years only four visits had been received from members at headquarters. Otaki felt as though it was working entirely on its own, and had no encouragement whatever. He considered Otaki should have been informed of the executive meeting at Raumati in order t,o send some delegates. Mr. Henderson, replying to Mr. Moss, said that now he realised the position he would certainly do •something to put the troop on the map, and advised that the next executive meeting would also be held at Raumati. "I am delighted to be present," said Mr. McCall, "and as a committ.ee member of ten years' experience realise the work there is to be done. and the setbacks and disappointments one receives." He went on to say that he nevef jregrbtted the years he spent work!ing on committees, as keeping in Itouch with vouth helped 'to-.keep :nne young. He went on to point out jthe true meaning of being a scout, jand concluded by saying that he ,was sorry Otaki felt so left out, but that would be remedied in future. I Mr. Rule then thanked Messrs. [Henderson and McCall for their attendance. and for tlTeiF talks' to the committee. Mrs. Rule served supper and at 9.30 the meeting closed, with an jexchange of Christmas greetings, thanks to the chair and to Mr. and Mrs. Rule for the usc of their room.