BOY SCOUTS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 17, 21 January 1924, Page 6

BOY SCOUTS

SIR A. PICKFORD ON THE MOVEMENT

IMPRESSIONS OF NEW XEAUVND.

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LONDON, 23rd November Sir Alfred Pickford, commander of the Overseas Scouts, has arrived '>ack from his 45,700 miles tour impressed with the great possibilities for llie movement in the Dominions, if only ihe interest of the public can .be arc-used to a much greater extent than it is at present In New Zealand, in AusuJlia. and in South Africa it was the same. 'Sir Alfred met with i-wo mishaps during the tcur—the one when be contracted n, touch of penuniojiia at- Auckland, aud when in Western Australia, he fell when slaying some Scout games and cracked two of his ribs. Ho was inconvenienced fov the remainder of his journey, but has now quite recover*! and, incidentally, lie has re;:o^niEed Uio limitations of his physical r.ctivitv. So far as New Zealand is concerned, he is confident that closer iouch hasbeen brought about between the ™ovfment out there and the headquarters in London. "They have gone throyh great troubles," he said, in the 6-. Ursa of a conversation I had with him yesterday, "'but I think they are timiu^h with them now. They have very devoted people working, both at the headquarters and at all the local branches, and they ought to make a very fine movement of it." ' Sir Alfred Pickford then went on to speak enthusiastically of the splendid platform advocacy of Mr. L. M. Isitb on behalf of the movement or Brica-dier-General Andrew, as Chief Scout, and Sir George Fenwick's energy and work for the movement in Dunedin. He spoke of Lord Jellicoe's personal interest m the Scouts, and incidentally mentioned the Governor-General's kindness to him throughout his tour, and especially when Sir Alfred was ill in Auckland. As for the Scouts themselves, he frankly affirmed that they were superior physically to any of the Scouts he saw in any other Dominions. The whole tour," he said, "bore elowttestaonr to the soundness of the Chiefs ideas. All the differing geo-g?fM-°Jdit!ons have nbt Prevented the Chiefs ideas from being carried out, very splendidly showing that it is a natural system." Sir Alfred had a good word to say of the Press of the Dominion, the members of which showed a sympathetic understanding of the aims of the movement. He quoted a Labour paper with some amount of glee, which asked "How could they deny it was a military movement when our boys were led through the streets clad in clanking military regalia. . He never received an answer to his query, he said, as to whether it was the tunic or the' pants that clanked. Most delightful of all newspaper comment came from n Sydney week'lv, which concluded its criticism by suggesting that "probably this comes from Sir Alfred thinking in short pants." Yet another writer affirmed that "the true measure of his mentality could be deduced from his dressing" like a boy." RACIAL PREJUDICE. In South Africa and Kenya Sir Alfred found complications arising from the colour question, and necessarily had to adopt a very tactful attitude. For instance if it was over decided to include the native or Indian lads in the movement, all the white boys would resign. He was, in fact, astounded at the deep racial feelings to be found everywhere in South Africa. The country and the Government, lie said, seemed to be skating on thin ice. The apathy of the public to the movement in all the Dominions seems to have been seriously impressed upon Sir Alfred. The ■ Enpire as a whole, he maintained, did not know yet what a valuable possession it had in the Scout movement. The people generally approved,. but ' they did not in the least know why. _ Everybody at the headquarters in London is now absorbed in preparations for the Imperial rally to be held at Wembley in the first week of August next year. It is understood that New Zealand will be sending about a dozen Scouts, and Australia has already promised to pay for 100 passages.