CHIEF SCOUT

Hokitika Guardian, 7 March 1931, Page 7

CHIEF SCOUT

RECEPTION AT CHRISTCHURCH. Replying to a public welcome extended in Ch]'isteliui’c*l), Lord Laden Powell said the welcome carries me back twenty years to the time when I made my first visit here. That day, twenty years ago, was a very happy one, and I have never forgotten it. “Now. tlie Mayor has spoken to von of bis fear of uniforms, hut I'm not sure that a soldier doesn’t make a bettor citizen for having seen warfare, particularly in peace time. He's seen the brutality of licensed murder, and knows its horrors, and he isn’t going to let it happen again if he can help it. Wo have put our boys into uniform chiefly so that the children of all families can In' exactly on the same terms with each other, and so that all class distinctions may he abolished in the ranks of the movement. Anyhow, J hope you’ll forgive os our bare knees Mr Mayor—after all, it’s a healthy uniform.

“When T was last in this delightful spot it was just an English market town—now it has grown into an English city, and I hope that the time will soon come when there will he a Lord Mayor sitting in this chair here instead of a Mayor. Rut you here are all going through dark times, for two reasons. Like everyone else in the world, you are suffering from the curse of unemployment—a curse that seems to me particularly serious because of its effects upon the lives of the young. The other reason i§ that terrible disaster in the North Island—that appalling and sudden disaster that took so many young lives. I know that wo from overseas felt that tragedy as bitterly as you. Educating the Young. “We must get on with the Scout movement,” Lord Raden-Powell continued, “in order to fill the places o* those who have gone before, and in order to play the game. And the movement will undoubtedly get on, because of the splendid character that there is in the people. The education of the hoys and girls of this generation lias had to face great obstacles since the Groat War, where we lost so many fathers, elder brothers, and teachers, and its good progress is now being attacked by the growth of the herd instinct among the young, and the popularity of that damnable motto. ‘-‘Safely First,” that is in danger of killing all initiative in the coming generation Wo want to end these faults in the education of childhood, and to train the children to havo initiative and character. “You may say that it is rather foolish to try to do this by taking the children to camps and making them run about in the open and teaching them about backwoodsmanship, hut these are only the gilt, the trimmings. Though, they are indeed, useful in themselves, they are only a. means to the end we aim at. ft is the next generation we’ve to look to. We have to get our country and our world out of their difficulties, and to do that the youth must be properly trained for the purpose. The Movement in New Zealand. “The movement has only lately trot safely on to the right lines in this country, hut it is now going ahead under Dr. Fenwick and the other Commissioners. However, we want mor? men. and we want more women. The children are all eaegr to come in. but we haven’t the scouters and guiders to train them, and we want every additional helper we can get. You won't got any personal profit out o'’ the work but you’ll get a feeling that yon’ra helping a fine and worthy movement, and doing your bit for your country and the world.”

Lady Baden-Powell replied briefly to Miss Bromley Cooks’s welcome. She paid a warm tribute to the women who helped the Guide movement throughout New Zealand, and spoke highly of the success and efficiency their efforts Had produced.