THE APPOINTMENT OF SCOUTMASTERS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—It has not come as a surprise to me that your corre- spondent "Yager" should have experienced the benefit which young men obtain from becoming Scoutmaaters, but with reference to his desire that a better system of appointing Scoutmasters should be undertaken, I would like to ask him whether he is fully acquainted with the present system. I think that many of your readers who appreciate the import- ance of this subject, no less than do the Council of this Association, are in ignorance of the methods we adopt and the great care which is exercised in the appointment of a Scout- master. I can assure any of your readers that any suggestion for the improvement of our methods in this respect world be most carefully considered by the Council, but I would like to point out that their suggestions would have more value if they made themselves fully acquainted with the details of our organization. They can very easily do this by writing to this office for a copy of our Regulations and enclosing ld. stamp for postage. It would be impossible
for me in a short space of a letter to explain fully the system we have adopted for ensuring that only those suitable are appointed as Scoutmasters, but, shortly, the facts are these :- Before obtaining his warrant a Scoutmaster has to fufil the qualifications laid down in our Regulations, which include three months' probation with a troop. The warrant is only granted on receipt of a Nomination Form which is signed by (1) the Nominator personally known to the applicant, (2) the Secretary of our Local Association, (3) our District Com- missioner. The Local Association is formed of prominent gentlemen in definite areas, who are interested in the Scout movement, and one of its main duties is to be responsible for the character and standing of the Scoutmasters. The District Commissioner is in nearly every case a gentle- man of high standing in his neighbourhood, generally a Deputy Lieutenant or some similar gentleman. It will thus be seen that, as far as it is humanly possible, no Scoutmaster can be appointed who is unfit for the post.
Some of your readers might reply to this by asking, how is it that they have seen Scoutmasters who obviously were not fit for their positions?—and the answer to this is that, when the movement started some four years ago there was no central office, and it was then impossible to exercise the supervision which we are now able to do ; consequently there are no doubt a few cases of troops presided over by Scoutmasters who are not altogether desirable, but these are getting fewer every day. There are also, I believe, a few bodies of boys, calling themselves "Boy Scouts," who are not con- trolled in any way by this Association, and owe no allegiance to it. Many of your readers have no doubt met such boys, and could not be expected to know the difference between them and members of this Association. That such unorgan- ized patrols should still exist is unfortunate, but it is not the fault of this Association, and they are known in the country as "Monkey Patrols." I shall be glad to give any of your readers further details of this most important subject if they care to write to me at the subjoined address.—I am, Sir, &c.,
EWEN CAMERON, Assistant Secretary. The Boy Scouts Association, 116 Victoria St., London, S.W.
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