The Dominion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1934. AN INTERNATIONAL JAMBOREE

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 81, 29 December 1934, Page 10

The Dominion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1934. AN INTERNATIONAL JAMBOREE

It says much for the virility and enthusiasm of the founder of the Boy Scout movement that at the age of 77 he has undertaken a journey to Australia to open formally the international jamboree held at Melbourne as a. compliment to the centenary of the Victorian State capital. Then a commoner, Lieut.-General Lord Baden-Powell saw most of his active military service in South Africa, in the course of ■which he developed the art of scouting to a noteworthy degree. From his experience in this connection he drew the inspiration for the famous international youth organisation which to-day has thousands of adherents all over the world. . “8.P.,” as he is popularly known, first came before the notice of the public as the defender of Mafekihg during the South African War, and it is of topical interest to recall the fact that one of his staff officers in that historic episode was a certain Captain Godley, who later in his career was to initiate the New Zealand system of national military training before the Great War. afterward to command the New Zealand troops on Gallipoli and in Prance, and subsequently to become Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of Occupation on the Rhine after the Armistice. General Sir Alexander Godley is at present on a visit to'New Zealand, renewing old acquaintanceships and associations. But that is by the way. “B«P.’ saw in the art of scouting, a means of enlisting the interest of boys in a movement in which they could be trained in the ideals of comradeship and service,, and so, in 1908, the Boy Scout organisation was launched. ■„ •

Although its recruits wore uniform, and had to submit to strict discipline, the movement was and is in no sense military. Control is .decentralised, and in that respect is the opposite of the highly- . centralised system upon which to military organisation is necessarily conducted. The fundamental aim of the movement is to promote good citizenship and international'goodwill. Signalling, tracking and stalking, camping out, reconnoitring are part of the training, but the object is not to inculcate militaristic ideas but rather to train boys through exercises which have an.irresistible appeal to juvenile imagination's in habits of observation, initiative and self-reliance. As to the international aspect of the movemeftt the results have exceeded enormously the anticipation of the founder. In 1920 an international peace jamboree in London was attended by Boy Scouts from 27 countries. Thirty-three nations were represented at the jamboree of 1924 in Denmark. At the coming of age of the movement a monster jamboree in England drew an attendance of 50,000 Boy Scouts from all parts of the world, representing 42 nations, differing in language, creed and colour. By 1929 there were more than .two million Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, of whom some 900,000 were in the British Empire. This progress furnishes convincing evidence that the movement has been founded on sound principles. That it should have survived the breaking strains of the War is a fact in itself significant of its strength. Yet it is also of some significance that the lessons of international goodwill, learnt at the most impressionable age, do not. seem to have influenced noticeably the relationships of nations as Boy Scouts attained maturity and went forth into the world. The ideals of the movement no doubt may have permeated the nations of the world —to a degree which it is impossible to ascertain- —but there are .no visible signs that these have become an active influence in drawing them'into closer relationships. Is there not. a call here for the launching of a new Scout evangelism systematically and determinedly directed to that end? Millions of boys and girls have passed through the ranks of the Boy Scout and Girl Guide organisations into adult life all over the world since these were founded, and most of them are probably alive to-day. It cannot be imagined that they have forgotten the lessons learnt round .their camp fires in boyhood and girlhood, and it may well be that here at hand is a tremendous force for the preservation of international peace if it could but be recruited for service in the cause.