B CYCLE

Hokitika Guardian, 23 October 1924, Page 4

B CYCLE

(Contributed). Members of the Ist. [lohitil;n Troop nml other Scout friends will ho intci'ested to hour or the fornmtion of the Akuvuti Troop and Pack with Rev. A. C. T’ut'cha* ajj Scfoutmaster. The troop has started very (veil indeed with a strong local eoinmittee and'several boys who had lieeii scouts when a troop existed in Aharon (three or four years ago) as its most er.thudastie momhers. ,

The Committee of tlie Ist. Troop are duo to meet next 'Wednesday when a good deal of important business 1 as to he dealt with. Tt is much io lie hoped that those who accepted rn< nbership of this committee a little time aoo and have since disregarded the r.otices they have received of meetings and have taken no outward interest in this troop, will make an endeavour to show Scoutmaster Berry and his assistants that they are in earnest in endeavouring to help things forward.^

General Andrew at his recent visit was bewailing the number of Scout Troops about the country that dropped out of existence, l’rohahly 09", of these failures are due to the hoys and scoutmasters being made to feel that they are isolated from the sympathy of their fellow citizens and that parents and others take no interest in what they are attempting. There is not the faintest doubt that a real committee working in earnest could help very greatly and that this; troop not only needs hut deserves much encouragement and help. The Scoutmaster of the 2nd Troop is not a hit satisfied with the proportion of the troop who have so far brought in the written approval of their parents to then* taking part in .the "Wailio Cycle Hike. When this was being discussed the matter was gone into carefully, and it was found that a standing camp near at home or to whether the journey could he on foot or by rail, was not going to produce any better attendance. Ihe matter will he brought before the Committee next mouth, and unless by then a more satisfactory proportion

are down to take part, the Summer Camp is likely to be omitted altogether this year. That this should he so would he more than a pity. Practically all the Scoutmasters of New Zealand would give up thhir work to-morrow were the camp to cease to be part of tlie regular scouting scheme. In fact the very first birth of the Scout movement. before any troop had been enrolled. committee formed, badge designed or handbook published, was a large camp run by Sir lloliert Baden Powell in tlie South of England, and it is for camp that a hoy in the majority of cases, first considers the possibility of joining a troop. But. apart from this, camp is the only possible opportunity of putting into practice tlie scout scheme as a whole, and no man is likely to devote his time and energy towards the production of a lot iof half-baked nondescripts who

strut about playing at soldiers, wear uniform and badges, to which they have no moral claim, and are about ns distant from Sir Robert's definition of a Scout as an underdone suet pudding is from a King Cobra. We are suffering at the moment from a number of armchair critics who have seized upon the points in Scout training which appeal to the adult public—tlie Scout code of chivalry, service, loyalty and what not—and seem to imagine that in some mysterious manner these ran be retained and the other side of scouting—that which more directly appeals to the hoy can lie discarded as unnecessary. Tt may be unpalatable, lmt it is nevertheless true, that New Zealand and Germany are at the moment the only two nations oT the world in which scouting 'for boys falls short of being a complete siuvoss. The cause in each case is similar—all attempt. to tinker with a scheme in which every part has ils essential reason. and to convert (scouting for Bovs into Si outing-ns-t irmvii-l Tps-tliiiik-it-ought-10-lie-fnr-lMiys. We have been making progress lately in llokiika. but the progress ncccsssiry is to get closer to the original scheme of ,>ir ilolicrt Baden I’owcll which h;i s < 1 nthralled the Boyhood of the World, and parents or others who are reluctant to let their boys take their full 'li,no in Smut activities, should understand once and for all that there neither is. nor ever has been such a thing as an “[minor” or “Drawing-1 loom” Scout.