THE SCOUT MOVEMENT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2567, 15 September 1915, Page 6

THE SCOUT MOVEMENT

FLOURISHING IN EGYPT. Some account of the boy scout movement in Egypt was given by Mr. G. E. Hatherly, foriherly a well-know)> scout officer in New Zealand, and more recently with the New Zealand Engineers at Gallipoli. . "I found the scouts in' Egypt far ahead of the soouts hero," said Mr. Hatherly. "There are in Cairo about 1500 boy scouts, and in Alexandria about 1000j of different nationalities— Greek, French, British, Italian, Armenian, Assyrian, and • international.' The internationals are in connection with tile schools,. and are of mixed 1 races, but-they speak English as a common language. Hie Greeks are the most numerous and tho best. What struck mo as most remarkable/was the manner in which the Greek boy scouts are supported by the people. Tho secret of the superiority and strength of these corps is that the Greek population keep the movement well. supplied with funds. Last year they spent ,£3OOO on halls, gymnasiums, tents, camping outfit, camp cooking plant, and so on—all the equipment boy scouts could possibly desire. No money is spent on expensive uniforms. They wear the Badou-Powell kit exactly as the boys do here. Only one troopItalians in Alexandria—carry arms. Of course, the average ago and size of the boys is much greater than the boys in the ' scouts here In . Egypt the boys remain scouts until they are young men.

"Just now the scouts of all nations in Egypt aro working in connection witli the hospitals, and somo are going so far as to get leave from work on certain days of the week to_ assist at the hospitals,. either as orderlies or as messengers. 1 Generally,, the scouts there have a. very diversified training, and they go to different scoutmasters for the different branches—ambulance, gymnastics, field cooking, and so on. Now they are specialising in hospital work, and they are doing invaluable work tliere.

"It does seem toime that the foreign natives have realised the value of the scout movement much more than we ever have in New Zealand. And the only reason our /boys are not so good as the boys in Egypt is our lack of equipment here, and this lack must remain so long as the people neglect to subscribe to our funds."