AID APPRECIATED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22391, 12 October 1934, Page 5

AID APPRECIATED

.SIR lAN AND LADY FRASER WELCOMED BY THE BLIND COMMON INTERESTS DISCUSSED The blind people o! Dunedin had the opportunity last night ,of expressing personally: to Sir lan Fraser, Mi*., and Lady Eraser appreciation of the notable contriftttiOijJwhich the visitors have made to the . improvement of the lot of the sightless. • The function at which the visitors were" welcomed was a reception organised by the Social Club for the Blind of Otago and Southland, a society which has a membership of about 60, limited entirely to the blind. There was a large attendance of members and their friends, and in enthusiastic welcome was accorded Sir lan and Lady Fraser, who were accompanied by Mr Clutha Mackenzie, director of the New Zealand Institute for the Blind. Mr J. N. Beckett presided. The chairman, in welcoming the guests, said thjint Sir Tan, as chairman of St. : Dunstan’s Hostel, was carrying on the good work ,so well commenced by that very true friend of the blind, Sir Arthur Pearson. In addition he was a member of the British'House of Commons. To him the, blind were under a debt of gratitude, for. any man handicapped by loss of sight who made such an outstanding success pf his career as had Sir lan could not do *so without impressing on , the public the.' fact ■ that blind folk were efficient in the jobs for which •they were trained; and could become very useful -citiimis.gr:.The: civilian blind freely acknowledged the very great service .that blind koldiers lhad done them not only in the trenches, but by the magnificent work they had. done in times of peace. The members ~of the club appreciated very much the Tact that’ Sir lan and Lady Fraser had -given up their only evening in Dunedin to be present. WORK OF THE INSTITUTE; ;

Prefacing an account of the activities of the New Zealand Institute for the Blind, Mr Mackenzie, said that be copied as soon as he-could all that Sir iau did to advance the- welfare of the blind. A matter which he had to report was the passing in New Zealand of legislation enabling the blind to take to polling booths a friend or relative who could mark a ballot paper for them. 7Ke hard work in achieving that end had not been done in New Zealand, but had been accomplished by Sir lan. He had guided similar legislation through the House of Commons, and the fact that such legislation had been passed in the Mother of Parliaments had made the job in New Zealand easy. It had not been necessary to convince local members that the passing of such a Hill would be a good thing. He was happy to be able to report a good year at the institute, Mr Mackenzie added,' * It ■was still spending £2OOO a year more than it received by way of income, bat, as against that, a number of generous bequests had been made. They would not be available, immediately, but would help in. years to come. Therefore the present losses could be regarded with more equanimity. The workshops -were having an extremely busy time. The income by way of art unions had been £IO6O, as against £B3O last year, and this had involved the distribution in prizes of, 2500 articles, each, of which was an advertisement for the institute. A highly successful. reunion of New Zealand blinded .ebldiers had been one of the events of the year, and another outstanding occurrence had been the opening of Bledialoe' House, where there were 24 elderly people in residence. At present there were 160 people at the institute, as against 145 last year, and the register for the 4 whole-of New Zealand i contained about 900 names. It was hoped that the band, of .the institute would be able to undertake a tour of the Dominion next ! year. , Tours in 1928 and 1930 had both broughti in a profit of about £IOOO, and this fund had financed the musical activities of - the institute ever , since. _ The first reason for the' projected tour was to give the boys a trip, the second was to sndw fnends mnd supporters the re-, - suite that Were being achieved, and the third, was to make some money. The institute also had a girls’ orchestra and a dance band that was considered to be the best in Auckland. The institute, he continued, was taking advantage of all the latest developments in the Old World for the benefit of the blind. -In England at.. present workers were methods rby which, books could-be more easily read by the blind.'- These; "of course, would not displace Braille,' but would bring books \ within the reach of those blind people—about two-thirds. of. - the total number—who could not read Braille. The gramo- - phone principle- had been adopted in one system which was reaching the stage of perfection.' While the ordinary record r revolved at-the rate of about 80 revolutions per minute means had been found of creating records that made only 12. or 18 revolutions y in ‘ the same time. The lines were much closer together, and one record "could be played for 20 or ,25 minutes. With further development they might play for even 35 minutes. Thus it would be possible to record a book on four or five discs. Sir lan had brought ah experimental set to New Zealand, and the records could, be heard with remarkable clarity. To put a book on_ the records would cost about £BO, and copies would be turned out at a cost of 10s a book. Thus, if a sufficient number, was required, the ultimate cost of a “ talking book ” might not be much, greater than Braille. It was expected that the system-would be working in about 12 months’ time. The. institute would: take its. quota of , books, and. in order to assist people to obtain sets, it .hiight be possible to arrange a system of subsidy. . , ; - Mr Mackenzie; in conclusion, congratulated the club on the excellent work that it was dbing,; It undoubtedly widened the lives and-activities of the blind people of, the prbvince.vAclub bn similar lines' had been . established in Auckland,; its activities including- rowing, the running of dances and debates, the. production of plays, and:.-other - Wellingtonalso desife’d. to set up a club on these lines. 'This he regarded as a great tribute to'‘the work which the Otago and Southland Club had done.,' He brought with him from Auckland the warmest messages of goodwill. ---v At this stage Mrs MTJurr ay. presented a bouquet to Lady Fraser, expressing the club’s sense'of pride in being able to .enstertain such distinguished guests. Lady 1 Fraser was also asked _ to accept a copy of a poem specially written for the occasion by Mr C. R. Allen. Mrs M'Murray also handed to Lady Fraser a book for Miss Jean Fraser, expressing the hope that her thoughts would be directed sometimes towards the blind people of Dunedin. SIR lAN FRASER’S REPLY.

"I am, happy indeed to spend the evening with yon," said Sir lan Fraser, in reply. He Tvas 'delighted to have the opportunity of going into the training, education and after-care of the blind in New Zealand. The provision for the blind in the Dominion was as good as he had seen in the provincial districts of the Old Country, and was better than in some parts that he had visited. The way in which blind persons of any age or. circumstances could be brought into touch with, the Pearson Memorial Fund or the institute through local committees was an admirable piece of constructive work, and the greatest credit was due to those who had: helped by working loyally with the council in Auckland. Legislation dealing with the blind was better in New Zealand than ip Britain, Canada, or South Africa. Britain did not have a pension for the blind after the age of 21 as New Zealand had. He would go back with a greater incentive to press upon Parliament at Home a request that the , pension now payable at the age of. 50 should be paid ' earlier. He could claim that what he had learned in New Zealand would be of the greatest value to him and, through him, to the blind people of the Old Country. He was particularly interested in the Social,Club for the Blind of Otago and Southland and was pleased to know that it was being copied, in different parts of the country. There v.ere clubs for the blind in England and they were bringing the people together for socials and discussions, thus widening their activities. :He had no doubt that the club in Dunedin rendered very valuable service to the blind and, from what he ha’d heard, it had set an example which others were following. The Otago and Southland Club had reason for pride in

the fact that the initiative had comefrom. it, ’ , He had been touched,, he stated, by ■Mr. Beckett’s reference to blind soldiers when he had said that he felt that they had been able to be of some service to the blind world as a whole. Before they had come on the scene, however, there had been many cases of blind men and women doing remarkable things and setting examples worthy of being followed. What had been new at the time .of the war had . been the large mass of young and vigorous men suddenly cut off from their ordinary avocations. This, had awakened public interest in the necessities of the blind and had been responsible for directing attention to the necessity of ■giving care and attention to the work in which Sir Arthur Pearson had been a leader. He was proud to think that his wife was one too.—(Applause.) ■ Sir lan also referred to the “talking book,” - which, he said, would be of the greatest practical value and consolation to the blind. He .was glad to hear that New Zealand would support the movement, because it would only be possible to obtain the greatest variety of books if the whole English-speaking world cooperated. “The world outside us,” he added, “is extremely generous to us. Everywhere kindly people are willing to give us assistance. Some retain their interest in us throughout their lives, and some give us aid only for a time and then pass on. I sometimes wonder whether the reason is that we do not respond to the kindly interest that is given. The responsibility rests upon us to make ourselves companionable and agreeable. There is no reason why we should not give in friendship as much as we-take.” Sir lan also urged all/ who possibly could to read Braille. He gave an amusing account of his own efforts to master the system, stating that his ultimate success had given him the greatest pleasure. Once students had learned Braille they, should press on until they had achieved fluency. He. then went on to relate some humorous stories, and concluded by wishing all good luck. From this stage the proceedings were informal, Sir lan and Lady Fraser making the impression which they had created the more favourable by chatting with the members and giving helpful answers to their questions. Items were contributed during the evening by Miss Ruby Price and Messrs C. R. Allen and Arthur Macdonald.