SCOUTCRAFT.

Hutt News, Volume 1, Issue 13, 23 September 1927, Page 7

SCOUTCRAFT.

Meaning: Generally one considers a scout to be a soldier who is chosen for his cleverness and pluck to go out in front of an army in war to spy out the enemy and to report to his commander all he sees. But besides war scouts, there are also peace scouts, that is, men who, in time of peace carry out work with the same amount of cleverness and pluck. The frontiersmen of all parts of our Empire, the trappers and mounted police of Canada, pioneers, explorers, missionaries and all similar backwoodsmen are peace scouts; real men in every sense of the word, thoroughly trained in scoutcraft. So it can be said that scouting means -the understanding of life in the wilds, ability to find one's way, to read meaning in the smallest signs and tracks, to look after health, to be brave and plucky, to be ready to face any danger and to be ready to help one an other. This then is the meaning of scoutcraft, and the aim for which the Boy Scout Movement strives. Practical Utility.—The use of this great knowledge is not confined to the distant lands of jungle or desert. A scout properly trained is most necessary in towns where all sorts of dangers and accidents occur. Also the scout training fits one for the right career and one becomes the square peg in the square hole. Origin.—Everyone has heard of Lieut.-General Sir Robert Baden

Powell, the founder of the Boy Scout Movement, and everyone knows of its origin at the Siege of Mafeking in 1899, where a corps of Boy Scouts was formed to help relieve the town. On one occasion an officer said to one of these boys when he came in through a rather heavy fire, "You'll get hit one of these times riding about like that with the shells flying." The reply was, "I pedal so quickly, sir, they'd never catch me." That was pluck. Character.—The basis of this scheme of educational value is to seize the boy's character in its redhot stage of enthusiasm, to weld it into the right shape, to encourage and develop its individuality; so that instead of being a waste of God's material, the boy may become a good man and a valuable citizen for his country. "The nation is showing signs of illness. We can diagnose it as ' Bad Citizenship.' " We know the kind of remedy to apply, namely, education •in "character." Scouting offers one such remedy if only as a first aid, pending the application of a better one. Laws.—Scouts all the world over have their laws which bind their actions by setting an honourable standard. So in the Boy Scouts there are ten laws which are all positive facts, that is, they set the standard of the perfect scout and point out what to do without any reference of what not to do. Even then a scout is not bound to obey them absolutely, but "I do promise on my honour to do my best." Badges.—Remember the reference above concerning helping to find the "square hole for the square peg." The badge system brings this out. First there is th eTenderfoot stage, marked by an elementary test in the general scouting principles. Next comes the "Second Class," still elementary, but with more practical woodcraft in it. Finally there is the "First Class," to gain which a scout must be proficient in scouting. Enlarging on these are the proficiency badges which may be divided into three main classes:—(l) Trade; (2) Handicrafts and hobbies; (3) Service. The first two groups tend towards character training, the third towards good citizenship, service being the hall-mark of a good citizen. The trade badges develop the boy's particular tendency and help him to choose his career, while the hobbies and handicrafts inculcate in him concentration, perseverance and patience and foster imagination, and in some badges even stimulate his artistic perception and sense of form. Beside these there are the all-round cords and the King Scout Badge. The former are of three classes; the first, green and yellow, signifies that a scout has his First Class and six proficiency badges; the second, red and white, that he has the King Scout Badge and twelve proficiency badges; the third, gold, that he has the King Scout Badge and eighteen proficiency badges. The King Scout Badge itself

shows proficiency in service badges, a King Scout having to have four of these, of which the Pathfinder is compulsory. Religious Policy.—When, having passed his tenderfoot test, the investiture ceremony is performed, the boy promises to do his best "to be loyal to God and the King." This reference to God, as being necessary to the best type of citizenship, is therefore an important feature in scout work. To what sect or denomination a boy belongs, depends, as a rule, on his parents' wishes. It is they who decide. It is the Scoutmaster's business to respect their wishes and to do all he can to second their efforts to inculcate reverence, whatever form of religion the boy possesses. It is expected, however, that every Scout and Wolf Cub should belong to some religious denomination and to attend its services. Scout's Promise. I promise on my honour to do my best — (1) To do my duty to God and the King. (2) To help other people at all times. (3) To obey the Scout Law.