BOY SCOUTS

Hokitika Guardian, 24 September 1925, Page 4

BOY SCOUTS

(Contributed.) Tin* extent to which the Scout .Movement ihis spread about the world and ( its possibilities in the direction of World Peace, are very little understood in Now Zealand, which, from geographical reasons, has been rather neglected in the matter of intercourse with l -i niits of other nations. With almost two million scouts in almost every pop- 1 ulated part of the world—actullv irom Tristan D’Aehuua to Bangkok. and (V.ofho-Slovakin to ( incinttlli —it is diilicull to select typical examples to tie- , moiistrate its true international cliar■i; ter hut the billowing examples may le enlightening to a certain extent. An important innovation seems to have originated in Japan where the scouts of Kobe have started to exchange members ot patrols with the Chinese scouts of Shanghai. Almost before this plan had been put into operation the .Japanese Scout. lleadqunrters received a reouest from the ISth Hilda pest Troop to receive forty llun- ■ aria a scouts in Japan next summer, and to send an entire party ot Japanese scouts to camp it! Hungary in th'‘ following year. The future possibilities of this idea it developed throughout the world are almost staggerill}'. St. George's Day is tile Scout I'estiviil throughout the world, and among other reports from portions of the world seldom in Lite mind of the average New Zealander, comes an not mint of its eolebrntion at 1 leisingturs when eight hundred Finnish scouts and the new 1 v elected President of t inland took part In an imposing rally. !• inland has just recently followed the example of P ranee and other nations where the movement is carried on under three distinct organising bodies representing religious and oilier diiTor- ■ cnees in forming' a federal council to I eii - lire that all three work ill harmony in order to promote by common etlort the progress of Scouting ill the eonni ry. To anyone who knows religious conditions in Franee it is no mean testimonial to Scout spirit, that this federation. representing; Homan Catholic. Protestant and non-sectarian Scouting associations lias been working with the utmost harmony tor tears past. !l is also rather characteristic that in Kinland this federation was brought about by a visit from the Chief Seoul ol Sweden. Major I.iebc rath, representing the International Scout ISureau which is worked from offices in London financed chiefly by a wealthy citizen ol the t'nited States and lias instituted ail international Scouts Camp in the Swiss Alps. Ki-nin Baghdad comes news ol an elaborate display given by Iraq scouts before the visiting boundary commission of the League of Nations in the (-our.se of which the Hovers (senior scouts gave a rather original item by forming a living map of their country, marking Mosul (the point in dispute'' with nn emphatic national Hag. Judging from later reports from Geneva the Commission failed to take the hint. When Sir Hubert linden Howell called upon the scouts ol the world to help to clothe the two thousand scouts of Asia, Minor and Kastern Thrace, expelled from their homes by the ’lurks and forced to take refuge in a destitute' condition in Greece, it is interesting to note that one ol 11 it' lirst contributions came from the Scouts ot Siam. These. remarking with dry humour that their style ol clothing might not move acceptable, seal cash to the extent ol I ..'ll >.ttl tieals or over | a hundred pound- oi British money. I Siam is a strong centre, of Soon: pro- | gross, the King of Siam is the active I head of the organisation, and this year I their numbers have increased by three | thousand to a total of 20,0.j0 scouts, j Latvia i- at present experiencing a boom in Sea Scouting, a branch of which in spite ol the ellorts ol Lor 1 Jelliioe. has never received the .• unport it deserves in this Dominion. We read 111 the Latvian Sea Scouts, by permission of their government, taking part in a visit to neighbouring Haiti.' countries by th.e Latvian warship "Virs:iit is. ” I 1 ’mm Spain we read of 11.1?.II. the Prime of tho Asturias being formally boosted as ri Scoutmaster while the younger princes, the Infantes Don Jaime. Don Tuan and Don Gonznln were appointed Honorary Pallid Leaders, ill the presence i f the King and Queen of Spain and other members of the Hoyal Family. At the beginning of this z month an interesting event was the pilgrimage of ten thousand hoy smuts, representing manv nations, to Home. These Catholic scouts were specially received h\- the Pope, who has time and again expressed his keen regard lor stout ing. and his anpu'ceint ion “I its great power for good amongst the rising generation. As a final example of the I liter national Brotherhood which is being made possible by the men of the I'll Litre through Scouting, the two hundred Seoul s ,:! Kent (England! who last Easier visited Venice and oilier parts nr Italy, report that in addition to the innumerable scout friendships with the S.-outs ol Italv itself, before the end of the triii the party had received additions in i he persons of scouts representing Denmark, Canada. Paris, British Columbia , ('/echo-Slovak in , Germany ami a patrol front Holland. Perhaps the most unexpected testimonial to the extent to which Scouting has spread to the least accessible quarters i f the globe, comes in a letter from Colonel Hoosovell, who is on n scientific expedition in Thibet. H<writes under date June bill. I!lib. from l.eli, in l.adak i Western Thibet). a town of 2,00(1 inhabitants about thirty days journey from the nearest railway and nearly 12,000 feet up in the Himalayas, and reports that he was somewhat surprised to he asked to inspect the local troop of hoy scouts and found a keen lot of hoys, keen on the carrying out of the smut good turn and he thinks that as far as altitude goes the l.eli Troop probably rank higher than ( any m'or. Col. Roosevelt himself, it should he explained, is a memlier of the National Council id' the Boy Scouts of America. Talking of America, the local bov Seoul s -com to have done excellent work during ilm reient earihquake in Santa Barbara. It is state,! that L ! 0 scouts had reported for duty in tlm danger zone within thirty minutes of the disaster, and that before many limit's had passed 200 were actively on dutv in various sections of the ruined city. An interesting booklet comes from the (.Hire of the Taranaki Herald and Budget at New Plymouth. entitled '■ Dominion Boy Scouts Abroad." in which Major Satnlford, who took charge of the New Zealand Patrol which visited Wembley and Copenhagen, relates some of their experiences in England, Denmark and Sweden, and at the various ports of call on the outward and homeward journeys.