"THIS IS BOY SCOUTERY"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 63, 7 December 1937, Page 10

"THIS IS BOY SCOUTERY"

Last week I put in an aifiicle out of "The Bcout" about a troop which had built its own headquarters ; here is a bit more about Scout halls which comes from the same source as last week's. Written by "Nosey," one of the staff of "The Scout," he says, "Gossip writers as a pesfc do not live long. You have but to make one slip of the keys, as it were, and by the next post in pour postcards and letters from oi' "Pro Bono Publico," alf detailing exactly where you get off. Nevertheless, being jn my practically right and normal mind, and jrearing my second-best pair of pants, your uncle makes a general statement of fact: "Boy Scout Troops with their own dens seem to he a bit slow in letting the world know who they are." In my snoopings through darkest (Boy Scout) Britain it has often struck me that if it were not for the noise Which the inhabitants were making it would be mighty awkwardi to tell a Scout "Hide-out" from gny other meetingplace. If your troop hangs out its sign 1 hope you'H write furiously to your uncle and tell him all about it, so any novel ide&s on the subject may be passed along. I've heard of 'tho' not seen) the hanging out by Sea Scout Troops, of a model ship. Perhaps you'll give your qualified and aspiring metal-worker chaps a chance by commissioning them to produce a fair-sized Scout Badge set in the middle of a sheet of metal, and hang that outside the H.Q. A best-seller among the Jamboree souvineers consisted of a small wooden replica of a Scout hat, staff and a pair of Dutch clogs, all tied together on a braided; cord. The lid and the staff are aiways closely associated in the minds of the pubiic with "them Boy Scouts," so . you might do worse than sport a painted. sign bearing these mystxc symbols, together with the inscription, "At the Sign of ihe Scout Hat and Staff — lst. Mudshire Boy Scouts." I'U stay in all day to-morrow specially to receive all the half-bricks forwarded by people whose troops have thought of something much better. He also put in some photos which I wish you could see; they are of the Imperial Scout Headquarters in London. Hanging outwards from the building is an electrio sign set in metalwork, and bearing the words "Boy Scouts Association" ; below this hangs a big Scout badge, and below that is the arrow of goodwill from the Arrowe Park Jamboree of 1929. The leader of each overseas Scout contingents was

given a similar sign to take back to the headquarters of his country. By night Imperial Headquarters holds its own with London's brilliant signs with a Scoui badge in neon lighting, while below are the well-lit windows of the "Scout Shop," where you can get everything that you want for Scout uniform, equipment, or anything that is connected with Scouting.