SCOUTING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19721, 11 December 1926, Page 22 (Supplement)

SCOUTING

(Contributed by the Wanganui Boy Scouts’ Association) EDITORIAL Readers are asked once more to note that matter for publication in this column must be left at tho Y.M.C.A. Office no later than 10 a.m. on Tuesday of each week. Write in ink on one side of the paper only and mark the envelope’ ‘Scouting.’ We will be glad to answer any enquiries regarding Scouting or to publish any matter of interest to Scouting. GARDEN PARTY. HAWERA JAMBOREE AND Y.M.C.A. SUMMER CAMP. This afternoon at Mrs. Quigley’s Grounds at 129 Harrison Street is to be held the Garden Party arranged by the Y.M.C.A. Troop Committee and helpers in aid of funds for the Ilawera Jamboree and the Y.M.C.A. Summer Camp. Both of these objects are worthy of support of the public of Wanganui and it is confidently expected that the’ citizens of this city will show their appreciation of tho work being done for the boys by attending in largo numbers. A large number of stalls for the sale of all sorts of goods will be a big attraction and the side-shows controlled by the Younger Men’s Chib promise to create amusement for all. Tho Queen Alexandra Band will be in attendance to provide music during the afternoon. Afternoon tea will be available and altogether everybody can be assured, of an excellent afternoon’s entertainment. Admission is to be sixpence, children half-price. JELLICOE SEA SCOUTS. GONVILLE We can report a week of useful work, Saturday afternoon being devoted to work in our boat shed. Sea Scout Doust officiating at the steam trough while the rest of the Sea Scouts were bending timber for our yacht. We have to thank our committee the Motorboat and Sailing Club for the present of two sets of sails for our 7ft Tauran* ga yachts. We arc’ hoping to be competitors in the Annual Regatta. We would like to remind all Sea Scouts to roll up punctually on December 11 to do a good turn.

PROM THE CHIEF SCOUT JUST BEFORE HIS VISIT TQ SOUTH AFRICA I am just off to smiling South Africa to see how our Brother Scouts are get ting on there. It will be a real joy for me to see them and also to see that great country again. Altogether, I have spent some ten vears of my life in different parts of Africa and I love it and its fine spaces, its noble mountains, its breezy freedom and its glorious climate. Also I love its people, the hardy British settlers, old Boer farmers and the cheery natitves. In my time I have been in most of its districts, Rhodesia, Natal, Transvaal, The Free State, Cape Colony, with all its wide-spread provinces, and also in the’ native states of Zululand and Swaziland. I began my career there as far back as 1884 and since that time the whole country has changed and developed, having grown from a wild country inio a cultivated and civilised one. Two white’ races, Boer and British, who used to be at daggers drawn with each other, have come to respect each other and are better friends, especially sine they have seriously taken to Scouting together as boys. I shall hope to write to you from time to time to tell you of my adventures in that land of adventure. I want to be back in England by next Whitsuntide as I have promised to attend some Rallies then, and 1 hope’ 1 shall see some really good ones. I have seen a number of excellent ones this year, but there has always been one fault for me to find, and that is that too few boys had won their First Class Badge. Well, now can’t you fellows rchiedy that before I come back? lam sure you can if only you try. If I were one ot you I could not bear to be ranked as , only second class. I look on it as rather a disgrace to a fellow to bo second class in anything, except, of course, just while he is going through that section as a necessary step to tho First Class. But if a fellow is content to sit down and to remain second class it means also that he is second rate. No true Scout wants to be that, and to be’ a First Class Scout is within the power of everyone if only he means business and tries.

AT THE SWIMMING BATHS When you go to a swimming bath you should remember the following hints:— Don’t stay in the water too long. Half an hour is ample; in fact, half that time’ is long enough for most people. Dry yourself quickly. The boy who stands about the edge of the bath in a wet bathing dress easily catches cold, while at the same time he is keeping other bathers from using his box or cubicle. Don’t “lark about.” If you do, someone who gets into difficulties may not be able to attract attention. Don’t run round the bath chasing another fellow. You will very likely slip and hurt yourself if you do, besides making yourself a nuisance’ to other bathers. The Scout. HOW TO CARRY WOOD IN CAMP Every Scout who has been to camp knows how awkward a bundle or pile of rough branches, which he has gathered for the camp kitchen, can be. Here is a good way of overcoming this difficulty:— Get an ordinary sack and make a rope handle at either end. Now run a stick through the sack at either end so that the sack will keep in position wlxv-n loaded. Lay the sack down, and place the branches on it. Draw the handles together and off to the kitchen without further trouble.

FOB THE CUBS MAKING YOUR OWN MAPS A friend of mine was in a strange town some little while ago. He didn *t know where a certain place was, so he asked a boy who happened to be passing. The answer was that he should take the first turning on. the left, the first on the left again, and so on. My friend followed these instructions carefully, and the result was that a quarter of an hour later he found himself—at the place where he started. Had it been dark he’d probably be like Felix —still walking. That boy was not a Cub. If he' had been, he’d probably have got his Guide Badge and been able to give directions properly. Talking of the Guide Badge, whether you’ve got it or not, here is a jolly game you can play’ on your next picnic. Take with you a sheet of paper, and immediately you leave the train or tram, if you have gone some distance, begin to make' a map showing the road up which you are walking; the side turnings and their names; signposts; what the signposts say; churches on the main road; if motor-buses use the road, and their number; the condition of the road, and so on. You will probably turn off on© road and go into another. If you do, let your map follow with you. In this way you will he going a long way towards getting the Guide Badge, or if you’ve got it, towards the Pathfinder Badge of the Scouts. For don’t forget that you’re “going up” one of these days. If you’re cycling, you can still make a map. You will have' to use your memory, though, and dismount at crossroads or signposts to make additions. Your map shpuld, when completed, be of great use to another party of fellows who intend to follow over the same ground. You’ll find, however, that if two or three of you put your heads together in getting out one of these maps, you won’t miss anything; besides which there’s more fun in it. Especially useful is a map of this sort to anyone passing through woods or forests where the' paths aren’t too well-known.