THE SCOUT MOVEMENT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2767, 10 May 1916, Page 9

THE SCOUT MOVEMENT

a Wriing to. Lieutenant-Colonel Cossgrove, Dominion Scout Commissioner, Dr. Anderson, Director of the Education Department,, says':—"ln reply to your communication re the boys and girls' Scout movement, I am directed by the Minister to convey : to you the assurance of h''s) high appreciation of tho ■ valno of the Scout training. It is recognised as being admirably- adapted for the development of good citizens, and the Department has always, on this account, welcomed cooperation with the Scout . authorities,, wherever co-operat'on is reasonably practicable. As to your request for permission to have Scout training substituted for military drill, where.there are Junior Cadet Corps, I may. say that very few such corps now exist, but where they are .still maintained, or where military drill still forms a part of the .-school system, tho Scout training may, at the option of tho school authorities,. be adopted under the existing arrangements in lieu of "the military drill. There is no barrier, moreover, to the formation of a scout troop in.connection with any school, and' if only the scoutmaster is prepared to give his time freely outside school hours to the necessary complement of field work, there'is much advantage to be sought in tho co-ordination of-this work, with suitable exercises taken in " tho ordinary school routine. It would not, however, be possible to allow anything to interfere with the time -given to physical training in the schools, and exercises to this end, whether under the Board of Education manual or in connection with the movement, could not be allowed to give way to auy other form of instruction."