Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JANUARY 10. 1941. A GREAT MAN PASSES.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 January 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JANUARY 10. 1941. A GREAT MAN PASSES.

AN his record as an able ami gifted soldier. Lord Laden- out 11. whose death was reported yesterday, would have taken no ordinary place in the annals of the British Empire 11m gie.m Title lo'lasting fame rests, however, on his foundation m t.u Bov Scout movement and the companion organisation o Guides. This achievement, wrecked only in part and temporarily by the outbreak of Fascist and Nazi barbarism, gives him a permanent place in the ranks of the truly great. a< in the midst of the present devastating turmoil oi world ua , it may be perceived very clearly that in the work lor youth into which he threw himself with untiring energy at an age u which most men would have been content to seek rest and ease. Lord Baden-Powell gave a true ami inspiring lead, not only to his own race, but to all humanity. . A man of original genius and remarkable versatih y, miu Baden-Powell at the same time had his full share of splem.tdly practical common sense, Iml the Inundation ol his gieatm ss was that he was pure in heart ami that unaffectedly ami genuinely Im loved his fellow men. In laying down the principles ol the Bov Scout movement, to which he devoted so many years nt gallant ami glowing endeavour, he aimed al the development of good citizenship as well as of individual character, nit ns conception alike of character and of citizenship rejected anything that was narrow or belittling. He looked and worked beyond national boundaries and the true scope ami possibilities of"the Bov Seoul movement were indicated at the coming ol age jamboree at Arrowe Park, near Birkenhead, which was attended bv 50.000 Scouts from 70 different regions ol the earth, representing 2.000,000 Scouts of many nations. At this noteworthy gathering, lads from any and every part ot the world met and’fraternised without distinction of race or colour, class or creed and in that unrestricted and warm-hearted fellowship the ideals set by Lord Baden-Powell before the Boy Seoul movement found true expression. At times some remarkably unenlightened critics attacked the Boy Scout movement on the ground that it was inculcating militarism. It is, of course, not to be denied that a lad who has taken his part worthily in the Boy Scout, movement ami profited by what it has to’offer will thereby be better able to hold his own as an individual, and to help to delend his oonntix it need be, than if lie had never worn the Scout uniform. As much as this is to be said, however, of any method or course of training which is directed to turning lads of good promise into manly men, The Scout movement is and has been from the outset directed to the development ol individual character, of good citizenship and the spirit of service and ol international fellowship. It is as far removed as any movement could be from the inculcation of militarism. It has boon suppiossed as a mailer of course in those countries which lor the moment, at the bidding of atavistic tyrants, are seeking to destroy freedom wherever it exists and tn dominate the world by brute force. The deep merits of the Boy Scout movement and the true and noble principles on which it is based cannot be appieci.iti d better than by comparing it with the youth movements ot countries like Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The Scout is taught at once to think boldly for himself and to think of others —to realise and appreciate whal the spirit ol service means. In this way the movement lays broad and strong foundations of social, national and international eo-oporntion. A call is thus made upon all that is best in youth with individually and socially invigorating eflecj, In the totalitarian States the primary call made on youth is that it shall close its mind and subordinate its intelligence in blind an,d unquestioning obedience to gangsters whose only working principle is that might is right. In Nazi Germany ami Fascist Italy, youth is intellectnalh mutilated ami degraded. In the Ifoy Scout and Girl Guido organisations which the British Empire and the world owe to Lord Baden-Powell, the best powers of youth are cultivated to splendid purpose and effect. The great work tor youth and lor humanity to which Lord Baden-Powell gave heart and mind so freely finds its pumpleio antithesis in what has taken shape in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, The t’hiei Smut! could have no bet ter vindication. The inspiraliotml lead that was given in founding the Buy Seoul and the Girl Guide organisations embodies the essentials of the lead that all humanity needs today and will need in years to come. Although the great man who gave it has passed, nothing but tinal darkness descending on the earth can prevent that lead being continued. The right view of the outlook was summed up admirably by Lord Badend’owcdl himself when lie declared, in his lasi Christinas message to the Boy Scout Headquarters in London, that a statue was owed to Hitler, because; “He has done more than any other man e\.-r did to consolidate our nation at home ami overseas.

Much Lord Bmh-li-Ifowell will Im ini-<c<l. hi<-lealh sitottld he ait occiixion less for mourning over ins loss (han of rejon-ing thal his life wa< lived an,| round.-.I so nobly and well. lli< work wil! live ami it was a man full id' years and lioiioitrs v. h»> was laid in rest vesierdav. as lie wished, “in a wild corner of (Ite

pardvt) al Ills honw in Xyvri ”—-l.hc Jv-nya ironic tn ivhich It* 1 spent his latter days. THE NAZIS ON ROOSEVELT. ]?\T\ i»y do* standards customarily s.-i l»y (l..»dd..ds irod hi-well-drilled, propagandist gaiit'', lhe hehiled bill \<'!i<>mulis Nazi v<i)iiliii - nls made on President lfo<>roVvh S Message t.. t'ongress are soniewlnil astonishing and of a sitlfieiein h extravagant tdTronlery to Im amtming. A ready .iiidntfons etrorl is made, for example, in die assertion that Mr lUioscxudt s address was "provocative and marked by an rirri>gnni‘v dial i-iiidd ha rd I.v be (‘Xceeded. " tidier \;tzi siab-nient s arc I hat die I ’resident falsified history and told "die usual pack of lies," It is to be noted, however, ilia! everything po-rohle appears to have lieen dope to prevent Mr Roosevelt s address I rom reach mg the German people Tall; about a pack id' lies c.-me-. oddly I rum the spokesmen oi a djctatorslnp which i-tideavoiics cunstantly and methodietdly to withhold from tin- people i.vi-r whuio it rums the facts of die war and. the world sitiu-tioii I tires! riet ed as they are in other ways, the .\’a,-:i v'.iiiro-w ■■ op Mr Roosevelt's historic address to ('ougross ar>- in ..ii<- r<' spec! marked by a singular tnodera! iro.t. As thro Lroe h. reported thus tar, they appear to c.-n'ani n<>dii!>g in th.- ;*.ay of threats. This mn hardly I"- at' mbu’. ■: to a ", ;ro’ o’ ,- ( -x:’-e to punish ’he I’ni'ed Stat.m tor du* proe’iroia’ mn o! a policy oi ntdimilcd aid to d -• nations bid ' ■. ■ ' ■ siiia -h and n a! <■ an ... ' .. r \’ ,■ : -■ > i‘c -'. ■ • i!: (i:< <■ :.. dr;',.';, ' ■ 'i, ! i : ’ •;, S ~i o>< i >■; ,ro ; a r*‘ !s ‘ ' > : ' ' hiroai'sc ttro'v are unable io think ot any threats ngains’ the Ln;',.-d ti.a' v.m;ld - t.-l < 'Y- ’.'e m i :ro : ’