INSTITUTE FOR THE BLIND

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 259, 31 July 1939, Page 13

INSTITUTE FOR THE BLIND

f( — New Home For Women In Auckland '. ■ Dominion Special Service AUCKLAND, July 29. Further extension of the work of the New Zealand Institute for the Blind will be inaugurated on Friday when the Minister of Education and Health, Mr. Fraser, will open a home for elderly blind women, which is being established on the institute’s property in Parnell. , „ A home for elderly blind men, Bledisloe House, on the northern side of the property and fronting Maunsell Road, was opened in 1934. In order to provide a corresponding home for women, the trustees have .made use of a large single-story wooden house in Titoki Street, formerly the director’s residence. Considerable additions,, partly two stories high, have been made to the building, and the interior has been extensively altered to suit the new purpose. The inmates will have the use of airy bedrooms, a large sitting-room, and a dining-room and sunny verandas. The home will have its own resident staff, and will be self-contained, with a fully-equipped kitchen, in which the latest type of heat, storage cooking range has been installed.

Much of the cost of furnishing estimated at £6OO has been subscribed by friends of the institute. The institution has been named Hutchinson Home, in honour of Mr. A. J. Hutchinson, who has been chairman of the board for 13 years.

The institute already accommodates several blind women, who, on account of age, are no longer able to work, and additions will gradually be made to their number when the new home is opened. The building will have room for 25 iu addition to the staff.