BOY REPUBLIC ELECTS ITS MAYOR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1601, 19 November 1912, Page 8

BOY REPUBLIC ELECTS ITS MAYOR.

TRAINING FOR THE DOMINIONS. The youngest mayor in England, "Ben" Stevens, aged seventeen, was elected on September 28, "Republic Day," atthe Boy Scouts' farm at Wadhurst, Sussex, The farm is a self-governed Boy Scout state, founded nearly a year ago for making Boy Scouts efficient agriculturists and good handicraftsmen generally, with a view to them putting their knowledge to advantage in the Dominions. The farmstead of a hundred acres and a large mansion was given to the Scouts by Mr. Benjamin Newgass, of Frant, and the boys in residence receive practical education in farming. v Election excitement ran high, the walls of the Scouts' school and farm ■ buildings being thickly plastered with manifestoes by the rival candidates; The Chief Scout, Major-General Sir Robert Baden-Powell, was present, and amid a scene of great enthusiasm he declared tho result of the poll. The successful candidate, Frank .Stevens, secured 29 votes, against 14 by ]?. Hart and 4 by another lad. Each of tjie fifty boys at. the farm colony had a vote. , ■Sir Robert Baden-Powell, after reviewing the lads and inspecting the colony, said ho was confident they would make tho farm as successful as some ho had seen during his colonial tour. The lads would find no difficulty in securing good situation's on oversea farms, as prosperous colonial farmers would be only too glad to have them. Tho boys afterwards gave a scouting display, and a number contributed a Wild West sketch. The mayoral banquet was a high tea of cold meat and cake and jelly. Among the guests was tho clerk to tho-Court of Honour, which ,is held twice a week for tho trial of defaulters. This court consists of soven judges—patrol leaders elected annually to the council by the citizens —and they are addressed by counsel for the prosecution and the defence. . "One of tho'most serious offences," said tho»clerk, "wo consider to be slacking, such as rising late and neglecting to make one's bed. A prisoner found guilty is '.'gated' sometimes for several weeks—that is, not allowed to go beyond the bounds of the farm."