ATTACK AND REPLY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 9, 1 April 1927, Page 9

ATTACK AND REPLY

IMSTITUE FOR BLIND DRASTIC CRITICISMS ' EX-SECRETARY OPENS FIRE An ex-secretary to the Jubilee Institute for the Blind, Mr. Morton Aldis, attacked the methods of Mr. Clutha McKenzie, the present director, at a meeting in the Newmarket Town Hall last evening. He also made allegations of faulty ad mi ni strati on. Replying to these allegations the trustees say that the resignation of Mr. Aldis was accepted with relief, and that they regard his allegations as the undignified talk of a man who has failed in his position. Talking of the present constitution of the board of trustees, Mr. Aldis said that four members were chosen by the Government and five by the con-

tributors. Government trustees were recommended by the board, a state of affairs which Mr. Aldis did not consider could be satisfactory. He suggested that the head of some Government department could be appointed. Over 600 of the 4,000 contributors in New Zealand belonged to Auckland. A contributor was a person who contributed 5s annually to the Institute. It was open to question, he considered, whether the Institute could be governed by trustees who were elected by people asked to contribute. Then again, only a small proportion of the contributors voted.

The trustees, who were under no check from public opinion, could do much as they liked and the public never knew. Many of the trustees had too much to do and rarely came near the institute, consequently they did not understand the needs and requirements of the inmates. In concluding his address, Mr. Aldis attacked the methods of Mr. Clutha McKenzie, who, he said had no special training for the position and had the institute in a chronic state of discontent. Mr. McKenzie was altogether too lordly and superior, and too fond of rules and regulations. Mr. Aldis said he had resigned from his position as secretary to the In-

stitute; he had not been dismissed. A large portion of the audience consisted of blind men. TRUSTEES’ REPLY “FAILED IN HIS POSITION” Extracts from a reply by Mr. H. E. Vaile, chairman of the board of trustees, the Hon. G. Fowlds, late chairman and trustee, and Mr. Alfred Nathan, trustee, to the attack by Mr. Aldis are as follows: Mr. Aldis was appointed secretary to the institute in June, 1922. At that time the secretary was virtually, if not nominally, the chief executive officer of the board. In 1923, however, the principal resigned, and the Director of Education, Mr. J. Caughley, who was then sitting as chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into the Welfare of the Blind, recommended that a director of all the work done for the blind throughout New Zealand under the board should be appointed. Mr. Clutha Mackenzie took up this post on September 1, 1923. Mr. Aldis, though a servant of the board, had fought

strenuously against Mr. Mackenzie’s appointment.

Mr. Aldis’s attitude became to extraordinary that on September 4, 1925. we were compelled to write him a letter signed unanimously by the nine members of the board expressing in the most stringent terms our dissatisfaction with his conduct. On the face of it, it was an invitation to resign.

There was, however, no noticeable change in his attitude, and on May 12, 1926, we accepted without question the resignation which he tendered. His departure has been a relief to the internal running of the institute, but he has continued to stir up feeling both inside and outside against the administration.

We do not wish to discuss the many petty points which he has raised for, frankly, we regard these as the undignified talk of a man who has failed in his position. The reply sets out the achievements of the institute over the last four years. In 1923 there were 76 blid persons on the roll and in 1927 110. Wages and salaries paid to blind persons was £1,229- in 1923 and £5,569 in 1927. The sale of goods rose from £2,466 in 1923 to £ G,300 in 1927.