FIRST-CLASS-TESTS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 158, 22 July 1937, Page 14

FIRST-CLASS-TESTS

"BIG SMOKE."

It is part of my job to take the firstclass test for this district and that means quite a bit of time occupied by that part of scouting alone. Now l have not got the time nor is it my job, to train boys outside my own troop ior that badge, and in future 1 am going to do like they do in Napier. It wili not take a chap for any part of his first class unless he brings along a badge not© from his scouter, saying that he has trained the boy and has tested him, and considers him up to tlie staudard of that particular test for the first class. You see if, as happens time afttir time, a boy comes to me for a test aud I find he is not up to th© standard, it means quite a considerable time spent really for nothing. Aud whep that has happened about hal£-a-dozen times it means that the boy begins to get a bit disheartened and 1 begin to get a bit tired of taking him in future. It als0 hiuders ine ifi my work rather. There is a standard laid down in P.O.R. for this' badge, and it is quite possible for a scouter to have a pretty fair idea as to whether a member of hds troop is tip to that standard or not. If he has not yet got to it the scouter should carry on the training until the chap has become proficient. It may take a long time, or it may not; that depends on the keenness and intelligence of the boy himself. Also we expect a scout to havo some experience of good camping before we finally pass him for the badge. First class is not merely passitig ten tests, besides those it is a test to sbow that he is a thoroughly capable all-round scout, and a scout cannot be that if he has not put iu quite a good' time in proper, wollorgauiccji «cou( qguptt, ua

that he can look after himself and others when out in the open air. There are, of course, many scouts who never become first class, all boys are not up to the same standard in efficiency or keenness. It will largely rest witli the boy himself, but it is absolutely essential that the scouter does his best with every one in his troop. There are, worse luck, often boys who are not real scouts — that is, they come along just for the fun. They never get the real scout spirit and do not carry on as a scout should do. A scout has t0 hav^ that scout spirit that will keep him true to his promise as a scout, and that will help him at all times to do his best to be a scout such as our chief will be proud of. As I said some. months ago, if a scout is not thoroughly reliable, trusty and capable he will not get his first-cass badge.