APPEAL FOR THE BLIND.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8831, 6 May 1914, Page 3

APPEAL FOR THE BLIND.

TO THK EDITOE

.Sky—l am Writing to ask you if I may have your sympathy and support for the great campaign which I am running, the object of which is to cheapen, and amplify the supply of Braille literature for blind readers.

You will 1 see a good deal \ about this in the English papers which will reach you by the same: mail as carries " this letter, sol-need hot bore you with a lorig 4 communication full of details. But there is one point which you should know. We produce five times as many Braille books:!ns all of the other similar publishing houses in the-Empire put together,-so our work is of B equal importance to the overseas dominions and dependencies as it is in these islands.

My aim is to d-aise the; £30.000 ijiirgently "needed to complete and equip our new building, which;was opened by the King and Queen yesterday, and also to secure as large a.: Maintenance Fund;as possible, for Braille books, owing to the tedious and... complicated process of manufacture and to their great bulk, must always be prohibitive in price.

Blind people are mostly poor people who cannot afford to pay excessive prices for the books which to them are of supreme importance, and so the Maintenance Fund of which I speak is intended to reduce this cost to as great extent as \ possible. I trust that you will support this matter in your influential columns, and ask ydur"'readers; to help us in our efforts to brighten the lot of those who are so unfortunate as to be sightless. . ■ ■'

I enclose a copy of''a ■•leaflet which is going to be very widely inserted in reviews, magazines and periodicals, and an article which I have written for my own magazine—not because I think this is particularly excellontj but be•causo it gives the point of view of one who knows, for my own sight has now failed me to such an extent that I can no longer read or get about without assistance.

i I venture to thank you in advance 'for the kind help which I am sure you will pive us, and in thanking you I hope I may succeed in making you feel that the thanks are ndt merely from myself personally but from one who is the mouthpiece of the mjm'y poor blind folk who will benefit by youi generosity.—l am, etc.. C: ARTHUR PEARSON, Hon. Treasurer. National Institute for the Blind. London, March 20, 1914.