SCOUT CADETS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1110, 25 April 1911, Page 3

SCOUT CADETS.

Sir, —Major-Goncral Godley lias recbntly .made a . statement in .regard to the status of Scout Cadets. Tne sum total- g{ -his remarks is this: There is no option as between senior cadcts and scout-cadets.- Boys over fourteen years of age must bo senior cadets; tlioj- may also be, if they wish, scout cadets. This is the direct opposite of what we scoutmasters wore informed in a circular sent last January by the Provincial Commissioners to all scoutmasters, and purporting to be a communication from the Chief-Scoutmaster, Lieutenant-Colonel Cosgrove. There lias been, to my knowledge, not a little rivalry, healthy and otherwise, between cadet officers and scoutmasters generally, and now .the work, time, and expense of the scoutmasters is to bo in fact nullified by this new decree. I, for one, would never have joined the scout movement if at- any _ time my scouts were in such a position as to say to me: "We cannot obey your orders to-day, sir, as Mr. So-and-So, officer of cadets, orders us to go to so-and-so. Such a travesty of discipline has occurred in my own district, and was bad for boys and parents alike, creating trouble and animosity generally. 1 fought the matter out under the idea that scout-cadet option was a reality; now it appears to be a myth. The Commandant states the training of senior cadets will be much the same as for scouts —that lie is greatly in'favour of the scout movement; that the scouts will be, if possible, in separate units I under scout-ofiiccrs, and yet any cadet officer can claim the attendance of a senior scout regardless of the existence of-such a thing as a scoutmaster. The boys prefer the scout training —the parents generally do so also—and .vet anyone .can see that: the-two existing together under different organisations and different authorities is not conducive to harmony or discipline, and discourages those, men who have sacrificed time, thought, and money to training boys, who, at fourteen, must transfer their obedience to another authority, who is acknowledged on al! hands to be no better in enthusiasm, ability, or character than the authorities under the scout movement. Common sense, as well as caro for. the boys' discipline seem to me to call for readjustment of the whole tiling. Either disregard the scout movement altogether, and let ■, units of such exist for their own pleasure, as private hobbies of eccentric . people, or else' acknowledge by facts as well as by words the sufficiency and benefits of the Scout training as compared with cadets. ■ I believo it to. ho : a .fact that with scout r cadet. option a' reality, the cadet returns would rrow but slowly. This speaks for itself. I think, especially as the time spent in training by the scouts is at least tenfold that spent by cadets, who, in future, will be efficient because trained regularly and continuously by scoutmasters. To which body of men I must soon sever my connection, because of my conviction that this way of working the cadet system cannot do anything but harm to the scout movement. Thanking you in anticipation.—l am, etc., W. : F. STENT. • Mariaia',"April 20: ... .• • ■