Untitled

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 185, 7 August 1890, Page 2

g tKj The following, letter will be read with interest by a great many earnest inquirers as to the condition of the blind of the colony, and is a complete refutation of the sneers and innuendoes of those w'lio are attempting to throw cold water upon the. efforts now being made to found in our midst "The J ubilee Institute for the Blind."

—lam, etc., J. Tijornks,. Hon. Sec. Jubilee Institute for the Blind, 81, Queen-etreeb.

May 29, 1890. Education Department, Wellington. To Mr J." W. Tigho, Parneli. Sir,—l a m directed by the Minister to convey to you an expression of his thanks for your letters of the 23rd and 24th instants. With respect to the number of blind persons in New Zealand, the last census shows that there were 186 such persons. Fiftysix of these were under 40 yeara of age. with a very even diatribubion over the whole 40 years. Under five years were 7, and for the subsequent quinquennial perioda the numbers are 7, 6, 8, 5, 9, 7, and 7. Above this age the number increases, and for the next eight quinquennial periods thoy are as follow :—lB, 13, 11, 16, 16, 16, 15, and 13., Besides these, there are 12 above the ape of 80. 1 With respect to occupation, the blind above the age of 15 are described as follows : 2 soldiers, 1 civil engineer, 2 music teachers, 1 musician, 36 wives and widows of no specified occupation, 1 scholar at a public school, 2 scholars at private schools (one of them being a girl), 1 hotelkeeper, 1 boarding-house keeper, 1 cook (male, not a domestic servant), 1 man in domestic service, 1 nurse (a man not in domestic service or charitable institution), 1, shopman, 1 general dealer, 2 carters, 3 sailors, 11 farmers or market gardeners (one of them a woman), 1 assisting oh alarm, 2 farm servants, 2 gardeners, Irunholder, 1 station hand, 1 landowner, 1 machine maker, 1 shipwright; 1 carpenter* 1 cabinetmaker, 1 tailor, 2 umbrella or stick makers, 1 woman a dressmaker, 1 butcher, 1 butter merchant, 1 baker, 1 greengrocer, 1 soapboiler, 1 cooper, 2 baeketmakers, 3 gold- i miners, 1 tinemith, 5 labourers, 1 contractor, 6 lodgers (three of them women), 2 annuitants (one of them a woman), 2 pensioners, 2 inmates of charitable institutions <both women), 6, inmates of Home. Refuge, ebc. (one of diem a> woman), 23 having no

occupation stated (one of them a woman). I have distinguished all the women in the list. The published statistics do not distinguish the localities, in which these blind persons reside. The Registrar-General's office is very busy now, but may bo able in a few weeks to look up the papers and see if any information as to locality can be supplied.—l have, etc., W. Jas. Habkns.