HELPING THE BLIND.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17428, 12 April 1922, Page 11

HELPING THE BLIND.

MR CLUTHA MACKENZIE'S SCHEME. There was an attendance of fully one hundred people, a great number of j them ladies, in the CHty Council Cham- j ber yesterday afternoon, -when Mr I Clutha Mackenzie, M.P., outlined his scheme for the establishment in New Zealand of the" Sir Arthur Pearson memorial fund for the blind in New Zealand, in association with the Jubilee Institute for the Blind. The Mayor (Dr. Thacker, M.P.) presided, and sev-. eral blind soldiers were amongst those present. j Dr. Thacker, after welcoming Mr Mackenzie, said that Mr Mackenzie's work was not for blinded soldiers only, but for all the blind people in Now Zealand, and those who should become blind. Sir Arthur Pearson, when he became blind found that "blindness was an opportunity" and the opportunity was to educate the blind to get over their disability and become again useful citizens. The blind did not want charity; they wanted the opportunity to become useful citizens. Mr Mackenzie said that the- wonderful encouragement Sir Arthur Pearson had personally given' him at the outset, had enabled him to be still of useful service to the community; He gave a brief outline of Sir Arthur's career, and said that now that he was dead, his trustees were making an appeal for the English-speaking world for funds to enable"his work to be carried on. It had at first been suggested that of the money raised m New Zealand, one-third should remain in New Zealand for training the civilian blind, one third should go to St. Dunstan's (military) and one-third to the National Institute for the Blind (civilian). 2J per cent, of the whole to go to the Children's Fresh Air Fund, in which Sir Arthur had been greatly interested. However, the speaker had eventually requested that all the money should remain in New Zealand to endow the work here, and Sir Arthur's executors had agreed to that. The movement here had largely been the 23 blinded soldiers in New Zealand, of whom five were in Christchurch, who wished to honour their old chiet by doing for their own country what lie had done for them. Mr Mackenzie gave details of the splendid progress that had been made by the returned men, and went on to. say that there were also 500 or 600 blind civilians in New Zealand, 76 only of whoni were in the Jubilee institute for the Blind, in Auckland. That institution nad done excellent work in the past, but owing to lack of funds, and other causes, it had not been able to keep up with the advancement in training the blind, and only a few people had been, turned out capable of earning anything like a living wage. Mr Mackenzie stressed the need for occupation for the blind, so that they might not keep on living in the dark in. misery and poverty, tor most of them, he said, were poor people. It was not charity but occupation they wanted, and there was no more faithful, useful, or happy citizens than the occupied blind. The function of. this particular fund would lie largelv man after-care department; so that the blind man, when lub training was complete, would go out of the institution and have hk future welfare looked after by an organisation maintained by the fund. There would be a. central depot, also, where raw material would be supplied to the workman at cost price, and wflier© the finished articles would be collected \ and sold. Personally, he wanted to see a pension for the blind established, for no matter how well they might be doing, the blind always had expenses that other citizens had not. For instance, travelling meant «► double fare for a blind man, who must pay for an attendant as well as for himself, and the small pension asked for would. go towards oompenaatuig ; for such, extra expenses. There were three classes of blind: firstly, the person who was blind from birth, who needed long and arduous training; secondly, those who became blind when they were adults, who needed .to be taken in.-hand at once, And taught new occupations] and, thirdly, those who became blind owing to increasing years, who could not be tfaked in new qecupationg, but wfc» could be made happy and taught small handicrafts which would bring them in-a few shillings. _ The sum ne ivaa asking New- Zealand to find,' Mr Mackenzie proceeded, was £46,ooo;[which would bear a Goyerhment.BUbsidy &24a in the £. The Gov-, eminent hail not been asked for that subsidy, but. arrangements had been made whereby the;money raised would pa* to ministration, and Would therefore automatically carry the subsidy. It would be a permanent endowment which!"would in an income of "about £5300, which it was suggested would be ex•pettded as- follows; £3OO or £4OO for the salary of the after-care supervisor, £290 for that of his assistant, £250 fop traveUiiig expenses 1 in visiting the Wind i in various parts of New Zealand j £350 for office expenses and rents, £2500 to be expended in .establishing the blind j in blisines's-life, Occupations, homes, etc. ! wheff thoir training was complete; £6OO needed annually to send two students for,' epecial training in the Old Country; massaging was an ,oocupation in wjhich ;the blind, with tbefe sympathetic touch, exceeded sighted people in efficiency, and there was'a great demand for them in the Old Country; it was not <eafi£ to train them in that occupation in .New. Zealand, and therefore it waa considered that the best plan, /would bo to send ,them for special training by blind masseurs .in the Old Country; £l2O for the purchase Of typewriters, which were essential to-the intelligent blind, many of whom had become expert shorthand writers and typists, the record in short* hand for a S% DunStan pupil being 160 words per minute: £3O or £4O, for Braille typing;machines; £3OO for comforts, and specially looking after the agOd blind, advertising Braille- literature, etc., and £BOO for a home for the mentally backward blind- Such was a brief, outline of the scheme. They wanted to see the blind-man a respect-able-looking, capable citizen, not a reflection oh the blind generally as: he now was in New Zealand, where be was worse cared 1 for than in any other part of the world. In conclusion, Mr Mackenzie said that he ~ heard everywhere that the- present was a bad time to launch the campaign, but there were hiany who could afford to give their share of the £45,000. which was not a very large sum. He hoped that the returned soldiers throughout New Zealand would help the movement as much as they could. It was not proposed that the fund should assist the blinded soldiers in New Zealand. They had been magnificently done by, and the: fond was to help the civilian blind. Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P.,; moved that all-present". should form themselves into a general committee for the purpose of assisting.Mr Mackenzie in the work he., had undertaken, and in raisingjhis city's quota of the fundi Mr~W. E. Leadley, in seconding the . motion, assured Mr Mackenzie that the returned soldiers would assist him to the utmost of their ability. He agreed that .the blinded returned men had been very weU treated, but that, he said, was very largely due. to the representar tions Mr Mackewae himself had made to the Government. The, motion was carried unanimously, and Mr. G. L. Donaldson agreed to act as tonorary secretary of the committee, and the City Treasurer, MrH. B. Smith, as treasurer Mr H. Alpe, who raised over £IOOO for t the soldiers during the war by wa *™gi offered to walk, in January from' Christchnrch to Blenheim, to Nelson, to to

Greyuioutli to Christchurch, taking up & collection in each town, a collection day to "bo arranged to synchronise with his visit, and to give the proceeds to the Mr Mackenzie heartily thanked all present for their enthusiasm, and Mr Alpe for his offer, expressing a hope -that hia pilgrimage would be a successful one. . . It was agreed that tiw W^* I ™* should meet again as a committee this day week.