GIRL GUIDES.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 January 1930, Page 3

GIRL GUIDES.

FIRST DOMINION RALLY,

DEMONSTRATION IN DRILL HALL

A CONSPICUOUS SUCCESS.

AVELLINGTON, Jan. 13

In spite of the complete collapse of the weather, and in full accordance with the spirit of the seventh Guide Daw, the first Dominion rally of the Girl Guides Association was held with conspicuous success on Saturday afternoon at the Drill Hall, Buckle St. • ellington, in the presence of His Excellency, the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, Lady Alice Feigusson, Mrs AV. R. Wilson, Chief Commissioner for New Zealand, and Miss Bell, Deputy Chief Commissioner.

In the Governor-General’s own words the guides carried put what they hoped to do in a wonderful way, considering that they had no rehearsal, and that at the last moment They had to go through with the rally in the Drill Hall instead of in the open air at Newtown Park. Some thousand guides took part in the rally.

During the past week the , guides have suffered much and patiently at the hands of the weather. Nearly 560 of them encamped at Trentham on l uesday last, January 7, and it was not long before refuge had to, be taken from tlie phenomenal downpour, which cru.iled brooks, pouls, and rivulets, where—in the interests of tile campers --dry ground was eminently necessaiy. there followed an awkward and hurried period of translation from tue original camp site to the a,eommountion placed at the guidejs disposal by the Defence Department. Seeing that much of the preparation for the rally was included in the camp programme, it was expected, by those unacquainted with guide organisation,- that the rally would inevitably lose a certain amount oi crispness in its action. How wrong these people were was shown concisely and adequately by the magnificent performance occupying two hours at the Drill Hall on Saturday.

OPEN-AIR DISPLAY IMPOSSIBLE

A special train to bring the guides from the camp site to the rally left Tientharn at 10 o’clock on Saturday morning. On their arrival in Wellington, the girls were taken by special trains to Newtown Park, where aJI had lunch. Six tents were erected there for rally purposes.

But early in the afternoon, shortly after 1 o’clock it was seen that the outlook at the-" Park was hopeless, and the whole company were quickly transferred to the Drill Hall. At the Park, tlie rally would probably have been even more effective than it actually turned out to be, when held indoors, but the main difference lay in the number of the general public who could be admitted as spectators. The crowd would liave been tremendous, given a clear, sunny day at Newtown Park, but it was a very .'small fraction of that crowd who could be admitted to the hall, in spite of the fact that every inch of room was occupied, closely packed raiiks of people lined the four sides, and the balcony, which runs along a side and end of tlie hall was thronged. Every point of vantage in the hall was occupied to many times its capacity. These were 'the conditions long before the r.ally started.

GOOD ORGANISATION

The organisation of the rally was the work of Miss J. Dalton, Blue Cord Guider, of England, to whom must go most of the credit for an extraordinarily successlul show. Bhe was assisted by Miss. Burgjn of Auckland. A Girl Guide rally, unlike an army or navy pageant, is very far from being a demonstration by. a service which has existed for centuries. The movement is still young, and it is a mark of -its vitality that such a rally as Saturday’s one is possible is its earliest years.

The Dominion rally is the first of its kind in New Zealand. The movement has grown, and has grown soundly and with breadth. No one could witness Saturday’s demonstration without being struck by the thoroughness and comprehensiveness of what is evidently the Girl Guide curriculum. Not, by any means, that every phase of Guiding was demonstrated at the rally itself, although the number of different activities which did find representation there was astounding. Many glimpses and suspicions of tilings not demonstrated, but which form part of the regular Guide life, were confirmed by evidence on every side. Even a sleeve length of badges for proficiency in various arts, crafts, and occupations, shows the tremendous and varied training which the average Guide gets, but which, nevertheless, is but a section of Guiding w< rk. And these sleeves, in many cases literally covered with badges, could be seen everywhere. Tiie great breadth oi Guiding activities, so obviously alive in an organisation known to be extremely young, is, presumably, the result of the energy of its founders in adopting with the nebessary modifications those principles of similar and older organisations which appeared to them the best.

The Dominion Rally was the first j-eal chance the public has had to obtain first-hand an idea of' what Guid-

ing means to the thousands and thousands of girls all over the world who are Guides, and, more important still, to the countries of tlie world where the movement is in existence. It would be ridiculous, and, by this time a contradiction in terms, to say that every guide activity was represented at the rally. But the foui “signposts” of the- guide movementhealth, handcrafts, service, and character—which surround the entire guid ing life like the four walls of a room, were each exemplified in an attractively planned and admirably carried oi sequence. The programme of the ralh itself is almost a key to the whole system, and repays those who give it more than the usual perfuncton glance. Miss Dalton, who has been in Xe-. Zealand for some months, has been visiting almost every available group of guides for the purpose of what mus. be in most cases rather a one-sided exchange of ideas. The success of th. rally is practically all her work. Am it must be admitted that very rev demonstrations, of any kind at all that liave taken place here in recen years have equalled Saturday s rati; in action, interest, diversity, and T one adds—significance. On this account Miss Dalton and those guide ofl cers who assisted her must be congra! ulated on the performance. So a! must the guides theqiselves be con p-iim, euted on the part they playe. so well.

OPENING OF RALLY

The rally began, after the breakinof the colours, with a demonstration o the “living compass” by the entirforce of the Wellington guides. Tlr Wellington captain was in a i ircle al the centre of the floor, and at a signal from her, the guides came fron the sides and corners and took uj their positions in eight lines radiating from the centre.

Alternate {mints of the compass were brightened by the red and white cape; worn by the girls, who were otherwisi in uniform-, and the eight Guides, one in each line, farthest from the centre, each bore a standard with tin appropriate compass point displayed on it. This trifling and attractive little avant-propos was carried througl with the directness and reliability one usually associates with a compass, and the stage was set for the magnificent spectacle which followed.

This was the pageant of Guides of other nations.

About 50 different countries hav' Guide companies, and-, on Saturday U of these were represented hv smal companies of Guides, who—in most casep—abandoned their regular, uni form and ■ appeared in. a dress characteristic of the country for which the' stood. At the head of each group wm the standard-bearer, also in native dress, with the national flag of liei country. These small endless proces sions came from a door, and circle'' round the compass, which was still i 1 position in the demonstration area Fifteen or twenty or more girls made up each national group, and the re suiting display was extremely pictures que. Exactly how fine the spectacle was can he gauged from the fact that apart from the prolonged applaus; which greeted and tarewelled this pageant. bursts of spontaneous clappi’c came from all parts of the hall wliih the pageant was in progress. The costumes had been improvised, and wen wonderfully lifelike.

Finally the big pageant and the compass resolved into four tremendous concentric rings and these began to move round to music, with hands join ed together, each ring going in a-gdi recti on opposite to that of its two neighbours. The movement was most impressive and was symbolic of the friendship which exists between guideof different countries.

A MAORI GROUP

Not to be outdone by a foreign pageant of any dimension whatever, a group of girls in Maori dress came through the gate of the pa and gave a demonstration of Maori handcrafts. This was extremely attractive and interesting, and the handcrafts included cooking a sucking pig and weaving in flax. A further party provided first-rate entertainment with poi dancing. This formed part of the handcraft section of the rally, and the fact that New Zealand is blessed with a Ma ori population was capitalised to produce it. Other parts of the hancfcraft were sewing, knitting, cobbling, signalling, housecraft, laundry-work and knotting.

For their demonstration of health the guides carried through a programme of Greek games -in Hellenic costunj.es. All the classic games were represented, and the result was very pleasing. 'Phe Flamborough sword dance, traditional in Yorkshire, was capably performed on a large scale by 48 girls. The remainder of the health section was made up of team games, ball-swinging and physical exercises, the two latter done with faultless precision. For service, the adventure of St. George and the Dragon was admirably enacted by girls in appropriate costume. Everything was correct down to the last detail in quite a large cast of Guides, together with a horse, and an exceedingly good dragon. This episode was one of the best in the rally, and brought tremendous applause. A fictitious street explosion supplied the girls with raw material for a surprisingly extensive display of ambulance work, and the section was completed with demonstrations of bandag-

ing, artificial respiration, and lifesaving drill. A BROWNIE INTERUDE. An amusing interlude came next, in which-the Brownie packs demonstrated part of the Brownie 2nd. class test—how to Jay a table. But the table was laid in a manner different from the regular test method. An immense white cloth was spread on the ground, and many diminutive. Brownies proceeded to lay the -table by going to tne correct places dressed as the various implements found on the average dinner table, hour of them formed the centrepiece, carrying flowers and dressed as vases, and the act took a. pleasant turn at its conclusion when Lady Fergusson was presented with the bouquet which the Brownies had used in their part of the show.

I he next part of the programme'was the section devoted to character. The ten Guide laws were each illustrated by the) reproduction in costume of some historical person renowned foi observance of the particular law in question. They were preceded bv Jiiides, carrying banners on which the keynote of each law was inscribed. The. procession included a crusader, ijawrence of Arabia, Elizabeth Fry, Keith Anderson, Waiter Raleigh, St. Christopher, Robinson Crusoe, Saint r raneis of Assisi, Ruth, and Joan of Arc.

c lhe concluding part of the rally consisted of ail the companies assembling ■ n uniform with their colours and ofii° .‘crs, while the Dominion president iresented the Fergusson Cup for knit.ing and needlework and the Jellieoe shield for first-aid, home-nursing and hild-iiursing, to the winning teams, •'■Li of whom are from the Nelson pro/ince. AI iss Gray, provincial commas loner for Nelson, leceived the trophies n behalf of the teams. G 0 VERN Oit-G ENEII A L ’S APPRECIATION. After the National Anthem had been mng by' all present, ilis Excellency spoke,to the guides. “I have, been asked to say just one word to you iseore you iti.siii.ss,’' he said. “And I .in very glad to have the opportunity of saying to you all what everyone in this hall must feel. You have carried out what you hoped to do iff a wonder.ul way, considering that you had no rehearsal, and that at the last moment you had to carry out everything in this hall instead of in the open air. That is a. wonderful piece of organisation. I congratulate you on the appearance you have made this afternoon.”

His Excellency went on to say that die occasion was the last on which he would address the guides, and spoke of the wonderful growth of the movement in New Zealand since lie arrived, here only a few years ago. He hoped .hat it would continue to grow, and .<) have such a splendid influence on lie life of this country in the future. “I congratulate you, and all that have been associated with you in this effort. It has been a great success in -•very way,” His Excellency concluded. Their Excellencies, attended by Mrs Wilson and Miss Bell, then proceeded lirough the guard of honour to their .•sirs, the opportunity being taken by die Deputy Chief Commissioner for \ T ew Zealand, Miss Enid Bell, of prerenting to Theiir Excellencies, Miss Jalton, who had so capably met the /hole of the changed conditions when ier original plans had to he re-arrang-d. His Excellency congratulated Miss falton on her splendid work. The companies and packs were dismissed by Miss Lysnar, captain for die day. The music required for various sections of the rally was supplied by Jupp’s Silver Band, under the niton of Mr W. Jupp.