BOY SCOUTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 April 1924, Page 1

BOY SCOUTS.

(Contributed). ■ The Hokitika Jamboree commences on Saturday. It may be interesting to explain that Scouts are divided into patrols of about six or eight .under a boy leader and that three or four patrols unite to form a troop. The different patrols are distinguished by tho shoulder-knots of coloured braid worn on the left shoulder in uniform, while boys of one troop dress alike in other respects. The troop colour is shown by the scarf worn round the neck which is usually the same for the Club Pack and Rover patrols attached to the troop. Thus the Ist. Hokitika troop wear blue and the second troop green scarves. The local Pack of Cubs also happen to be distinguishable as to their jerseys, which are grey for the Ist. and blue for the 2nd. Pack respectively. Since about twenty is the ideal strength for a troop or pack, and to go beyond thirty nearly always leads to failure, it is greatly to be Imped that more than two local troops will be in existence before the next Jamboree is held l in the town. Scouts are divided in rank into Tenderfoots, 2nd. Class Scout, Ist. Class Scout and King’s Scout, according to proficiency, while Patrol Leaders and Seconds are usually chosen for points of character, which can hardly be classed as proficiency in Scouting. Whatever his rank, otherwise, a Patrol Leader as such, ranks above all other Scouts, and the extent to which these boy leaders realise their responsibilities is in every case a reliable measure of a troop’s success or failure.

Sir Alfred Pickford, lately back in London after an extended tour of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya etc., on behalf of Boy Scouts Headquarters says that of hundreds of public meetings in the Dominions visited hardly one showed any clear grasp of the principles of scouting by the citizens present, and in every case explanations of the actual work was received with enthusiastic interest. One of the most essential points in the scheme which is often overlooked is the above matter of ladership of hoys by boys. It is intended llmt this should he real and not merely apparent, ami tho Patrol Loader is no “N.C.0.” echoing tlie orders of his superior, but real leader who has often to learn by his own mistakes. There is a constant temptation for a troop to aim at a successful appearance in public, for the scoutmaster to do things himself for fear of failure on the part of the hoys, but except in so far as the health and safety of the scouts in the troop is concerned this is a mistake and “spit and polish” however admirable in themselves, have no vital connection with the spirit of scouting. Finally, it is'to he born in mind that a period of three or four years is usually necessary for producing a trained scout, and quick results are apt to he chiefly on the surface. This is not to be taken as an apology in advance for possible shortcomings of our local scouts, but it is not reasonable that the mere donning of a uniform is going to turn an urchin into a cheat and if it were the aims of scouting tend towards the production of quite a different brand of article. The aim of tlie Jamboree 'is to excite interest in attempts, which should begin to show results ill, say, 1927, in the hope that such interests may lead other men to come forward as Scoutmasters, Pa-trol-leaders, Examiners and the like. Records of Courts and Prosoiis show flow large a proportion of our population fail to benefit from education or religion, and in a town where public spirit is so much to the fore in the direction of improvements from which the coining generation will be the first to benefit, it is indeed strange liovv few seem interested in assuring that the men of to-morrow shall he A! EX rather than jelly-fish.