BOY SCOUTS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2903, 16 October 1916, Page 8

BOY SCOUTS

THE WELLINGTON DISPUTE

STATEMENT BY DOMINION COUNCIL

Statements published in the Wellington papers and reproduced in- the "Lyttelton Times" on October 6 have, says that paper, given rise to considerable comment as to thp management of the Boy Scout movement in tho Dominion, and tho executive committee of the council feels that it is due to the chief commissioner, and themselves to publish the following statement: — The movement was inaugurated by Lieutenant-Colonel Cossgrove in 1908, at the request of General Sir E. BadenPowoll, nnd was managed and financed for nearly seven years by him in addition to his professional duties"as a teacher. -In less than a year after the inception of the movement the correspondence became very heavy. Colonel Cossgrove's outward mail often exceeded 300 lottcrs a month. ■'Urgent telegrams arrived and had to be answered. Repeated visits had to bo made to Christchurch and elsewhere, so that his expenditure upon the movement which he had'so much at heart became very heavy. In 1910 he sought tho advice of General Baden-Powell as to tho best way of getting the scout badges and of controlling their issue. Tho General suggested that Colonel Cossgrove should give him a royalty of £3 3s. per annum and that ho (Colonol Cossgrove) could have the badges manufactured by a respectable firm hero or elsewhere, and that he could then sell thbm to Scout officers at whatever prico bo liked. . Colonel Cossgrove replied that ho did not wish to exploit tho and suggested that if the General would agreo to sell the copyrighted badges to him and to no one else in New Zealand, ho woiild undertake to purchase all the badges required in tho Dominion from him. That-suggestion was approved, and the arrangement holds good to the present day. As Colonel Cossgrove' was not in a position to advance money for the purchase of badges in addition to what he was spending on tho running of tho, movement, he ontercd into ani arrangement with a business firm hero to buy the badges in London on his order and to sell them under his supervision. That arrangement was also approved by General Baden-Powell, and tho firm, was appointed by him to be tho official outfitters in New Zealand" as set out in the headquarters "Gazette."

As Colonol Cossgrove held vory strong ideas as to tho necessity for safeguarding tho issue of tho badges and preventing them.falling, into unworthy hands, ho instituted a system of registration of every badgo earned and issued, and tha name of every recipient. This meant providing a largo amount of printed matter, and a great deal of record-keeping which' had to be dono by an employee of the firm, who was officially known as the quartermaster. Badge application iornis and official; targets had to be printed, and though they wcro sold at so much per hundred, many thousands wero given away to inquiring scoutmasters, who rarely, if over, sent a stamp for reply. Bolls of pathfinders' maps and targots sent in for inspection had to bo returned, each costing from 3d. to 6d. in postage, and allowanco had to bo mado for badges urgently required, as well as-tho necessary stationery for correspondence. When aE this; was taken into account tho quartermaster found that the badges could not bo sold under 6d. each, in consideration, howovor, of tho fact that the firm had been mado the official outfitters, tho manager- provided Colonol Cossgrove ■with an office, and periodically assisted him with his offico espouses, all such assistance being devoted exclusively to the scout movement in stamps, stationcry, and printed matter. Iu 1912, when .General Baden-Pow-ell visited tho Dominion, Colonel Cossgrove told him. that.some officers complained that they had to pay too much for the badges. The Goneral replied that the system of registration and control of the badges in New Zealand was the:besf he had seen, and that tho prico was as low as could be expected; moreover, the badges were sqld m Australia at the' same price as, and in America / at mora than double, tho New Zealand price. Tho boys in Australia had also to pay a.'levy of from 3d. to 3s. to their headquarters, while a Now Zealand boy had to pay only 3d. per annum before ho could obtain his badges. Colonel Crossgrova took advantago of General Baden-Powell's visit to Christchurch to form, a Dominion Council to help him to control tho movement. AVhen Colonel Cossgrove returned from Invercargill after seeing the General off, he met his new council, and as there were no funds in tho treasurer's hands, ho presented tho council with a ohoque for £25, which tho General had pressed him to take to help pay his travelling expenses through the Dominion with the General. Tho only other funds tho council had

were derived from i>atrol levies—Jd. per boy per annum—which until last year very few troops paid, and probably these would not have done so only that the officers could not get badges till tlie levy was paid. In some years less than £5 was received from the whole Dominion, barely enough to keepi tli headquarters secretary in stamps. Up till last year no appeal had been made to the public for funds, henoo the council had no printed, balancesheet to send out to. Scoutmasters or the public. This year, however, a balance-sheet of tho organisation fund was prepared by a. registered accountant, and audited by the council's auditor, and passed by tho council at its annual meeting. A synopsis of J.his balance-sheet was published with the arnual report and sent to every comaissioner in the Dominion with sufficient copies for all his officers. The Wellington malcontents demand that a balance-sheet should be audited by what they call air independent auditor, wrongiy inferring that tho council's auditor is an interested party, which, of course, ho is not. They demand also that the'badge transactions appear in the balance-sheet. This, it will be seen, could not be done, for neither the council lior the Chief Commissioner had anything to do financially -with them. ; All the information contained herein was given to the late Commissioner with a covering letter, requesting him to read it to his officers, but some of them were out to matfe troublo and would not be reasonable. As soon as tho council had fund's in hand tho Commissioner notified General liadenPowell and the Loudon Council that all orders for badges would bo sent in future by him, or in tho ovent of his decease by tho council. As an order, owing to war conditions, may not bo filled for six months or nioro tho council sent Homo for £.50 worth of badges last month, but in tho meantime badges will be sold as usual till the council's order arrives. Every effort will then bo made to sell them at as low a ligiiro as possible, and tho transaction will, of course, appear in the next balancesheet. . Tho statements published in the "Lyttelton Times" had reference to tho' Wellington Scoutmasters' Association, and it is explained that tho Dominion Boy Scout Association, which is incorporated by (loyal charter, has its Now Zealand hendqiiarters in Christchiirch, and has independent control of all Boy Scouts in New Zealand. Tho Wellington Scoutmasters Association, according tn the rules and regulations, consists of local Scoutmas-

tors formed to meet periodically for mutual help and advice, and to draft programmes from which to work. This association has been at variance with

headquarters, but, as was explained to the late.Commissioner in August last and also at a meeting of district commanders a fow weeks ago, Iho alleged grievances have no substantial foundation, and are based on a misconception of the i'acts. Every effort has been mado by the executivo appointed by headquarters in Christchurch to enlighten thoso who felt that they had a grievance, and while the majority acted in tho true Scout spirit, some Wellington officers, who have had charge of a small minority of troops, held out the throat that they would secede and form a separate organisation. An impasse resulted, and they withdrew. The published statement of the selfconstituted officers in Wellington that the "new association starts off with 700 Scouts and thirty officers" appears to be contrary to fact, for, according to official information and a Wellington newspaper of October 9, of the 700 Scouts claimed by them about 600 attended tho .Dominion Boy Scout parade held at the Basin Reserve on Saturday last. This was the best muster and most successful parade ever held in Wellington. As the seceding men and boys will not be recognised by the Defence Department or the Boy Scout Association, it was no threat on ttre part of tho Wellington provincial secretary to warn them of what they and their boys would lose by seceding TroiTl the parent organisation. Signed on behalf of tho Executive Committee by H. M. Inglis, M.8., CM. Commissioner, Deputy Chairman of Executivo; H. S. J. Goodmau, .Barrister and Solicitor, Treasurer; W. H. Orholl, Vicar of St. Paul's, Papanui, Clerk of Council..