THE BOY SCOUTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 November 1922, Page 6

THE BOY SCOUTS.

LETTER FROAI THE GOVERNORGENERAL. Air. Percival Witherby, who returned from Australia last week, and who has accepted' the position of honorary financial organiser to the Boy Scouts' Association in New Zealand, has received the following letter from His Excellency the Governor-General, who is Dominion Chief Scout: — Dear Air. Witherby. —I am much interested to learn that you are about tot start a campaign throughout the Dominion, the object of which is to raise funds with which to continue and extend the Boy Scouts’ Association in New Zealand. I earnestly hope your tour will meet with a ready response and great success. No one can see much of the Boy Scouts’ movement without realising its; immense value, both to the hoys as individuals and the community at large. The boy who obeys the Scout laws in his daily life is honorable, unselfish, loyal, courteous, cheerful, and manly,’ and has all the qualities that go to make him a good citizen in after life. A movement such as the Scout movement cannot be carried on without funds. This is obvious, in spite of the faet that great numbers of men and women, devote so large a portion of their spare time most . unselfishly to it. The prevailing financial stringency in Now Zealand, as elsewhere, is bound to affect the funds of the Boys Scouts’ Association: but 1 trust that, as the real value of the work is realised, the response to your appeal will be generous. —Yours sincerely. ,IELLICOE, Dominion Chief Scout.

Mr. Witherby. in a statement, declared that His Excellency's letter expressed very clearly the usefulness of the Boy Seoul movement, and provided a definite lead to the campaign he was aboi t to start upon. Owing to past and. to a lesser extent, present economic con I '- tions in the Dominion, the Boy Se: was in financial low wa'.ar

at the very time when, in one direction or another, and particularly in regard to the Sea Scouts, it was vital in th? national interest it should be more fuilv developed. He had ascertained from headquarters that the minimum amount required to meet present needs was £5OOO per annum, and, despite the conditions prevailing in some quarters, he had set his heart on raising this sum during the next few months. He could I only be successful in this task if he received the assistance of every man and woman who realised the worth of ! the principles upon which the Boy i Scouts’ Association was based, and were prepared to make some sacrifice, whether great or small, to transfer those principles from the realm of theory to that of practice. Mr. Witherby added that he knew of no movement which actually did this, by means of its training, its games, and the spirit it engendered, to such an extent as did the Boy Scouts’, or one which made a stronger appeal to our higher instincts. He proposed to gradually visit the various cities and towns throughout the Dominion, and, with the assistance of the Afayors. the Press and local bodies—and with the co-operation of those who were already devoting time and service to the Boy Scouts’ Association —to ask everyone, whatever their walk, in life, to help him in this work, and to respond to the appeal which Lord Jellicoe. as Dominion Chief Scout had supported. A plan was being devised by moans of which each city or district would be asked to raise its? own quota. [Taranaki’s quota is £200.]