INSTITUTE FOR BLIND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21332, 5 November 1932, Page 13

INSTITUTE FOR BLIND

FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES EXPLANATION OF POSITION The difficulties now being encountered by the Jubilee Institute for the Blind as a result of the depression were emphasised in a statement yesterday by the chairman of the trustees, Mr. A. J. Hutchinson. Much publicity, Mr. Hutchinson said, had been given by the New Zealand press to the fact that the late Mr. Craven 11. Smith had bequeathed £3500 to the institute. Many people had formed a wrong impression that the institute had received a large aggregate sum from bequests in recent years. Actually, although since 1905, generous friends had made bequests totalling over £47,000, the institute had not yet received a penny from this source. The reason was that the payments in all cases were subject to life interests, some of which were unlikely to terminate in the course of nature for at least 50 years. Until they terminated, the institute would receive nothing in the way of capital or interest from the estates concerned. It was not expected that anything would bo available from fho major portion of the £47,000 for fully 15 years. Mr. Hutchinson said that he would like regular subscribers to know that, the Government subsidy had been entirely withdrawn; that the income from the capital account of the general fund had been very considerably reduced, and that there had been an alarming decrease in subscriptions. It bad also been necessary to reduce the prices of goods produced in the workshops. The general fund account „was overdrawn, and it had been necessary to draw upon capital. The trustees hoped that the public would give generous support to the fair which would be held at the institute early in December.