IN HUNGARY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 403, 11 July 1928, Page 6

IN HUNGARY

GIRL GUIDE CONGRESS A real adventure ship left Vienna not long ago to take about 50 Girl Guide delegates down the Danube to their international conference at Budapest. They had come from 28 countries to discuss the question of forming an international bureau, with nine world representatives, and the bureau has now been finally chosen for two years, with Dame Katharine Furse as its first director. Grey, green, brown, khaki and blue, the uniforms mingled happily together, and Guides from Iceland could be heard talking eagerly with Czechoslovakians and Poles in a language made up of French, German and English. At Budapest the delegates were welcomed officially by the Government, whose guests they were during stay in the Hungarian capital. With flags flying from a fleet of motor-cars set -apart for them they were driven to see the most interesting sights in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Like true ambassadors bringing tidings of peace, they were received in the old throne room of the ancient kings of Hungary, where the Regent, Admiral Horty, welcomed them, and seldom can the white walls and glittering chandeliers of the royal palace have looked down on such a scene. The Guides formed there in a simple horseshoe, sisters from many lands whose watchwords are loyalty, service, and obedience. Sir Robert and Lady Baden-Powell arrived to take part in the rallies held in their honour by the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of Hungary, and perhaps the proudest people in Budapest were the little Brownies who scrambled joyfully toward their chief with a dish of potatoes they had peeled ’for him! It was, however, at Farad, one of the loveliest country resorts imaginable among the wooded hills of Hungary, that the actual conference took place. Some of the suggestions included the idea of an international Girl Guide flag and a universal badge which the delegates are going to take back to their countries to be considered. All international questions of Guiding will in future be referred to the new bureau launched at the conference, which will probably be established in London for the present. One of the points discussed at the conference was the question of a new name for Guiding, but the delegates could think of nothing better and the name is left as it is.

The days before the Guides’ Congress were spent in Budapest, where the Chief Scout made full acquaintance with the progress of the Scout movement in Hungary. He there inspected 8,000 out of the 30,000 Scouts now enrolled in the- country, and carefully tested their accomplishments. One test was the building -of a rope bridge, and Sir Robert delighted tire Scouts by being the first to cross it. The official inauguration of the general headquarters of the Scouts had been delayed in order that he might declare it open, though the building has been occupied for some time. A feature of special interest was the Sea Scout Settlement on an island in the Danube. There the chief saw the Sea Scouts put together a canoe which had had all its parts packed in a knapsack.

At last summer’s International Sea Scout Rally in Denmark, the Hungarian Scouts took first place, although Hungary is now entirely an inland country. The next International Sea Scout Rally will be held in Hungary on Lake Balaton, • the beautiful place visited by the Guide delegates to the International Congress. The visit o£ the Chief Scout and the Chief Guide to Hungary will always be remembered in the annals of the Scout and Guide movement. In the Harshegy Park Sir Robert delighted the Scouts by stepping into moist sand so that a plaster-cast of his footmark could be taken. Though it is only in plaster, Hungarian Scouts would not part with ithis footprint if they were offered in exchange one of the legendary footprints which Budda is reputed to have left in solid rock.

Speak gently! 'tis a little thing Dropped in the heart’s deep well. The good, tlie joy which it mav bring Eternity shall tell.