YOUTHEFUL YOLUNTEERS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2229, 15 August 1914, Page 9

YOUTHEFUL YOLUNTEERS

/;-; ORDERS FOR BOY SCOUTS. " ■')- The following orders havo been issued by the B.>y Scouts District Commander for ■: Wellington:—: ■ . , ! ; On Saturday night, August 15, a prooMsiori ' orgauiseo, by the Wellington ...South Drum and File Band will take pl;ice; : and all suputsavill meet at Duppa -'Street; Berhanipbre, at 7.15 p.m. to join in..;. ■ '.':''''' On Monday those scouts attending State ' schools who have been acting as special messengers will return to school, except in cos's where a renewed permit has .been granted. Some (if those ,scouts' who have not yet been called from school will be. required to. take iip the duties. Due notification will be.given: by circular. Scouts ha\ ing' college holidays are asked to be at the Drill Hall, Buckle Street, at 9 a.m. on Monday. • , Sooutg' do not accept money in,reward for services ' .Boys ■. wishing to become scouts,, and men able, to assist as! scoutmasters or in-, fc.j-uetara. are asked to notify the Dia- '-■■ triot Commander, 'Box 1496, G.P.O. , The District Officer of the Boy Scouts ' , notifies the public 'that books or magazines intended for the Expeditionary Force will be. collected by the scouts, on notification being sent to him at Box 1496, G.P.0., or 'Phone 1904., " ... ■ . FREE TRAM FARES.. ', . At yesterday afternoon's meeting of the ,-' . Wellington City Council, Councillor J. E. Fitzgerald mentioned that some boy scouts' were being utilised as messengers, and he nioved.that if (these lads were equipped f with orders from the Defence authorities they should be provided with free tram '' 'passes. ■ •' '..• . ... ..•" ... ■ .The 4 "' council agreed to the motion.' 45d., for/BISCTDTTS. • '•'-. (To the Editor.V -,- Sir,—ln your issne of th!s day you mention the incident, of a boy scout having received 4Jd- for services rendered, and of this amount being spent in. biscuits.: The. above circumstances are not known to the boy scout officers, and I am, very, anxious that no wrong impressions • of our scouts should get abroad. As an' offset,;let me say,. that cases have-.been r&ported again and .again where scouts have been offered remuneration for tne services they are now rendering, and the • "boys have^respeotfally replied that bein? scouts they could not take money. At a ; eeting of Kelbunr Scouts last night, on« boy reported that he had been given money to send telegrams and-told not : ' to return the change. This boy brought ..2s. lid. to the meeting and asked what : ..ho was to'do with it. His scoutmaster advised him it should go to , the troop funds./1 wish it, however, *to La clearly, understood that the boys' services, are purely voluntary, and.we do not wish their services to "be. paid for in any, way. There is a great need of workers in,the scout movement.- Boys • aro .plentiful,, but scoutmasters are few. If the present activity of the boys results • in gentlemen offering their services as ■ scoutmasters, wo shall consider, our efforts . amply rewarded. I shall be pleased, to interview any gentleman, who has a de."'sire...to assist in training the boys, and give him all information regarding the work. Several scoutmasters; have gone' or are goiug to the war, and the need of. help, is now moro pressing than ever,— : lam, etc.; '' - ' '•"■ -B. ;s. BALDWIN, - Commissioner Wellington District, ■', ■-" , D.B.S. • '.. ..'■'■ ■-_. [In.the paragraph referred to, it waa mentioned that, a boy scout had been left with 4Jd. change of a telegram in his hands, and as the owner, could hot be found,, the money "was spent on biscuits for the scout patrol. It was clearly stated that, scouts are not allowed to accept money in recognition of their, services.] ;:■".'. THE CHURCH AND DEFENCE FATHER VAUGHAN'AT'STONY- ■' .... . ..;• HtJR?T SCHOOL.., , ' When- Lord' Haldane evolved-his new Territorial Army for the,.home defences .:: of : Great Britain, i he.i hitv.upcin the.iaDpy idea of -~ making.: tho - colleges recruiting grounds for officers—of whom. there, has always been & serious shortage—the new ;■ organisation-being styled'the, "Officers! Training- Corps,".oi .the: ''0.T.C.'," as.it ' ■was familiarly" termed..' A similar idea • was adopted' with "partial success'before the Kitchener came into being. Tho following account, in tho Stonyhuret School - Magazine. of an inspection of the Stonyhurst "0.T.C." by Father Vaughan. '■-' is interesting' ts showing';the interest of the Roman Catholic ChuTch in military training for defence purposes." The boys .' were.drawn iip in the playground. Father Vaughan went his round, missing no de- , tail, as his eye passed from cap to boot of the men .forming the .different comr paniesj After the inspection, which 00-' cupied an hour, Father Vaughan addressed the whole corps. -He 6aid that if he bad happened hot to be an old Stonyhurst boy he might feel* justified in sound.ing only their praises', but being what he : was he could not efford so much to praise I ea to blame thorn. He had inspected. the .companies, both "senior and junior, with • '' a critical eye. As a Stonyhurst man he wanted to see not so much ia what, they excelled as in what they, fell short. He did not think there was finer raw mater-ial-in any public school for the garb of • battle than he had that morning found in the corps under inspection. They were smart, but not smart enough,-and they were efficient but not efficient enough. ■■ Somehow they did not seem to be proud eLough of inside the.King's uniform. He was disappointed with the way '. they 6tood. Their attitude was not smart and soldier-like. Their feet were in the grass, but were not swinging in the stars. They didnot make the best of themselves, of their figures, or of their , There were buttons that were hot doing duty, and hooks not'slipped into the eyes. He would like to. see every bandolier fitting close up the shoulder, every belt,sitting straight across' the v/aist, every tunic drawn smartly down, and every cap in a company at one angle. , These were small matters, but the smartness and the alort.icss of a corps depended'in no small measure on attention to ' detail. Father Vuuphan said -he would never be satisfied with'the Stonyhurst O.T.C. till it'came into line with the best of the best and the smartest of the smartest. He urged them to put heart in theii work, and to mnke it their business to see that the Stonyhurst O.T.C. was beaten by that of no other public, school. Father Vaughan spoke about_the -. ■'of every Catholic to King and Empire,' and conclude!' an inspiriting harangue witi three cheers for King George, the Duke of Lancaster. WHAT THE SCHOOL CHILDREN CAN DO FUND FOR AMBULANCE. OUTFIT. The Inspector-GeneTal of Schools (Mr. Geo. Hoqfben) has addressed a circular letter to head teachers of public and '■" Native schools, in which it is stated that: "In ordeT that' the ohildren in public olid Native schools may.assist the Empirp in a fitting mnnr-er. shonld thev so desire, the MmirteT of Education ha* ■•approved"'of- the recommendation that thev be given an opporhinitv for contributing to a fund to provide some ambulance equipment that will be recognivd as given by the school-children :f 'Now Zealand. If every child in attendance at- the schools gives on the average only threepence—not a large sum for a 'child to rive in such a cause—n sum of ovrr will.lie raised, roakhcr a sift . wrthy of Hie ; children of the Dominion that hns'always been : to the front in -making sacrifices and affordin" assiitjrp? in Hii"s'of the Empire's need./ i "\ny sum* offered should be donation* fr-'p- 'th« children tlffir'* I '-". and w> fr'nn the parents, who in other ways will n ovc to make sacrifices. Tt is felt that whatever is given shou'd involve se.f-eac-'fiee on the part of the donor—that it should be taken from the nunil r own, •savings, or, if a parent be called upon to help for the moment, the chi'd should deny himself or herself some pleasure or make some sacrifice until the parent is repaid. If provided in ; this spirit tho V'ft from the school-children of New Zealand will be a truly noble one. The Education Board will be glad to receive .■' any siim donated by your school and to transmit it to the Department. THE HARBOUR LIGHTS A slight alteration; has made to the order concerning'the'lights at .Wellington Harbour entrance. From sunset last evening -the -Pencarrow. light will, be lit,'- but" wiir be obscured to seaward;'• and will show - only up the Wellington Harbour. ' The low-

level light, which is extinguished at present, will be lit as soon as the weather moderates sufficiently to enable this to be done, but it will be obscured to seaward, and will only show up the Wellington. Harbour. These arrangements have been made so as to enable tho South ferry steamers to leave port at night with safety. Inward-bound vessels will not be allowed to enter the port at night. THE FORTS ALERT Notwithstanding the fact that the port is closed to shipping at night, a small vessel evidently belonging to the mosquito fleet, attempfc'd to. creep in between I), and, 10 Inst nigh", A round was fired from the fort at the' Heads, and the boat was brought to an anchorage in Worser Bay. Tho sound of the firing was heard m the City, and caused some little anxiety. PARADE DEFAULTERS CIVIL PROSECUTIONS ADJOUR&ED SINE DIE. There were no fewer than fifty-two Defence cases set down for hearing at s tho Magistrate's Court yesterday morning. When the first of the cases came up, Inspector Hendrey stated to the Magistrate, Mr. D.'G.'A. Cooper, S.M., that the Defence authorities wished to go on with a number of cases, but desired that the majority be withdrawn, as a number of those charged wore at present on the troopships in the harbour. Mr. Cooper -.—"Owing to the present ( crisis, I do not intend to take anj of the cases; they will all be adjourned sine die.'" " THE CALL TO ARMS POSITION OF THE MINOR POWERS. All Europe,' with the exception of Spam, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Rumania, and the Scandinavian kingdoms, says an Australian exchange, has been mobilising. Of those countries which have not officially begun to mobilise, we may take it that only Spain and /Portugal need not do so. The Balkan .-' nations are certain to be mobilised par tially already-from mere prudence, and Greece has said she must go.in with Servia, though no Greeks appear to hive moved to the scene of the lighting. The Scandinavian kingdoms must mobilise very soon, because Germany has constantly for years been urging them to come under her aegis for protection against Russia.by land and England by sea. This proposal was not aocepted by the Scandinavian kingdoms. Sweden has becn-maK-ing special efforts to increase the num-' bers'and efficiency of her troops and of her fleet, a new Defence Bill on a large - soale is practically decided on. Norway ,is doing the same thing on a more modest, scale. Denmark has been somewhat remiss, and one reason why she may be excused is that, of the three kingdoms,, she.alone is immediately at Germany's merfv, and must be most prudent not to anger Potsdam. Germany was insistent that the Danish army need not be increased or brought up to date, and that to fortify Copenhagen on the landward side was absurd, only the sea front must be defended, because of the.danger from ' .England, when Denmark could be ruined at any moment by England's - refusal to take her dairy allied produce. The Paris "Figaro" of June 30 published the statement that it understands that Se'rvia and Montenegro' had. definitely decided to proclaim' their union. .It had been intended to make the announcement oh the anniversary of the battle, of Kos,sovo, but in consequence of "the murders at Sarajevo it was postponed, but the delay would.be brief. Both States have decided to, proceed gradually, and but for the assassinations they would have proclaimed a Customs Union, and have ; agreed upon two common Ministries for Finance .and Foreign Affairs. All particulars of these negotiations had already been drawn up (said the "Figaro") in the.strictest secrecy, and ..under the leadership of Russia, who, from the beginning, had been informed concerning the affair; So.far.as the.dynastic,situation concerned! "nothing "would' be changed* whilst the present Sovereigns are living. After their death both States would form one State-under thesovereignty of Prince •AlfTander". tho'fiit.iirp King-of Pervia. '." ' When tho officers of the British 'squadron were entertained at Kiel, the great Airman naval nort, on Tune 28. Grai>dWmiral von Roster ("The Grand Old Man. of the Fleet") pnoke in. terms of gemiine enthusiasm of the high esteem in which German naval officers held their colleagues everywhere and.alwavs. He said they were the very best ! of friends. ' "Germany," continued Grand-Admiral von Koster, "has, worse luck, no naval war history of her own to teach lis, so we are compelled to hold ' up'that'mr.ster of all masters, your own imperishable Nelson, as /the ideal to which sailors must aspire. Political conditions may. be good or bad, but thpy can never: efface our admiration for the sons of:the mother of navies. -Germany has a powerful fleet—a fleet whioh must be made still more powerfnl—but we drain our glasses sincerely when iTTochs' for the British Navy are called for." . Some curiosity has -been evinced as to the two.chief German naval stations in the Pacific. Five years ago Sim'psonhafen became the official centre and trad-' ; ng'centre about Papua. The'nort is landdocked, and convenient. The entrance is divided in the centre by a larss rock, and the station might be strongly defended, but.nnless some action has been taken in that direction recentlv there are no defences. It; is a port of call for the Japanese and the island trade in the Marshalls, Gilberts, and Carolines centre*. There workshops have been established, and bonr-buildinir and repairs are carried on, by Chinese workmen under German direction;. A change has, been made lately, but until then three ,smnll and old-fashioned composite cruisers represented Germany's naval authority in the Pacific—the largest enn they carried being ■a 4-inch. Two of the three were generally at or near Sin'osonhafeh. The only troops were\some 300 native constabulary under a German officer. The N.D.L. practically owns the port.. , ' A good deal of interest was excited in a criticism of the training methods of the German array, a couple of years aso by the military conviiondent of "The Times,", widely recognised as an accomplished writer upon military . subjects. . Tie discovers in German troops, as the consequence of lonp-sustained and monotonous drill, n cortn'n stel»no«s. as comnnred wifh the sprins of Frenoh infantry., OffVers who have, to wait inxte<>n or seventeen years for a comrmnv are tired, too. b°f<vyt.hpy r»n. mand. The Gerronn soldier has -beni educated ''n the do"trine of sMf-belief, a contemnt for tlio arms nf nil other "1 Hono. and n conf»mr>t,-teo. •for the effect of modern rifle-firp. Tn<; tenlin? npon that noint has n«vi>r of late years been!distnrb«d by exnerience.

Discussing the wonderfully successful revival of A Royal Divorce by .T. C. ! Williamson', Ltd., at Melbourne' Theatre. : Royal, Mr. Julius Knifht said that the j play,-is not staged in -England as it is ; 'done here. The tableaux are pre- : I sented. This was the .idea of the late • .'flw-v Gordon, and if. hms always been a • V" f»ntnre of 'H l * Will'ampori nrn'liiotion . of the play. "Originally." Mr. Rni^ht "'A Royal Divorce' was brought [ te England by an American named Jfc'ly. | 1 Fe arrived there with the prorer'k'al f ! sl'o«shvi"'r, nnd is now a very wealthy ! j-mni. The nlny i R consfantlv beW toured ! in England, and never fails to draw big ( hniiuos. IWv i«.-« . It n-ris he whn' first- blofjtnd int the face nf a te-n-n with a rosf"r announc- , in" 'a TJrivnl DivorcD.' Ther<> was a tre. I mendnii' nnrnar xlvvnt it. as you may | > imnrrino b*" it didn't keep people awav f j frr-r. flio nlnvl" . j . A feature of the r»oenf.r«vivnl in T.on- | i don ff "A Roval pivnr,.p" wns thp anl pearance in Hip leading ro le of a dewend- ,' n-t /if.Vannl<vin.. Tliis Vn. M. ' .Tnnn 1 BtionnnaTte,'thie greit-srandpin of the r who bears a striki"? likes ne« to the Cfirpica.n. Ai. BnnnaD parte has a 'of valuables noss»ssr cl bv hii illnsteioiis nnoestor. He wore s on the sta?e the identical sword the a "man of destiny" wore at Ansterlih. and 5 'tlin.v.lf.nni« nrA"r of the Lceion of TTonour wh'"h Napoleon wore on Ms brM<d:. Jnliii* K"i"ht is an earnest Nanolronic student, onf! has a number of intemstini? relics of Nanoleon. Mr. Kni»ht admits tliol- tia would coonnr olay this role in j "A Rival Divorc«" than anv other in - which he has ever anpearod. "Ona of the k rearons." he savs. "is that behind the t pstF there is a oersonalit.v that no otlieT - character and which, makps j "—'r. "cting'of the role achieve unerring -, effect."