SCOUTS.
(To the Editor of the China Mail.)

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   Sir,- In view of the repeated statements about the shortage of officers for the Boy Scouts, there must be a reason or reasons for the shortage.
   I suggest that instead of a Parson, a Layman, preferably a Business man and not a Naval or Military man, be appointed Commissioner. He would be more likely to get officers than a Parson who is engaged in other social work in the Colony; one work must clash with the other in the matter of attention paid to either or both, and scouts are of all Creeds. The Scouts should avoid giving the appearance of being led by a Parson or by the Government. Further is not the policy of the Scouts in England to be self supporting (except in the matter of administration expenses) and to include all nationalities? In Hongkong they are neither self-supporting (e.g.: grants for clothing and picnics) nor international.
   In the Scout Movement in Hongkong a little band of only 169 boys appears to get far too much attention to the detriment of other important matters.
   We hear that three new Assistant Parsons are coming for Kowloon. Are all these Parsons necessary for the salvation of Europeans in Kowloon, are they going to be Scoutmasters or could they, in view of the reputed shortage of Parsons at home, be better used at home?

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Yours etc.,
INTERESTED.
Hongkong, November 9.