FINE ACHIEVEMENT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 514, 24 April 1933, Page 3

FINE ACHIEVEMENT

BLIND RETURNED SOLDIER PLANS AUSTRALIAN FACTORY CONTROLS VAST -ORGANISATION Captain Gilbert Nobbs established for a British eompany a large manufacturing organisation in Australia. He planned the extensive factory and ■made the layout of all departments ' himself. Now he is in charge of about 200 •employees, and personally direets manufacturing, selling, advertising. Expenditure of hundreds of thous- ' ands of pounds has been made entirely on his recommendations. And this same Captain Nobbs is •totally blind. Almost as remarkable as the. man himself is his statement. "I don't see that I have done anything remarkable." Blinded in the war by a bullet which went through his head and sev'ered the main artery of the optic nerve, Captain Nobbs came to Australia in 1918 to investigate for the firm of Holbrooks Ltd., possibilities for manufacturing here. Knows Every Floor He recommended the establishment ^at Danks street, Waterloo, of the factory which he has planned and has never see.n. He has directed successffully for the past 15 years the activi•ties of this large Australian business. Fashioned out of cardboard, his plans of the factory are evidences of the e.xtraordinary achievement of this sightless man. The various buildings are outlined to his touch by raised surfaces on the Braille principle. "I can hardly believe that I have never seen this factory," he says. "I feel that I know every floor, every "stanway, every section of the place. "The secret of victory over blindness is activity, occupation." Travels Widely Captain Nobbs has travelled remarkably. Since his blindness he has been around the world six-times. He yisits the firm's agents all over Australia every year, and discusses business problems with them. Holbrook's advertising is completely under his personal direction. The advertisements he writes himself, and all drawings and designs are submitted for his approval. ' Captain Nobbs also planned his fine home at Manly. He is ac.tively, interested in the Sydney Legacy Club ■is president of the Manly Amateur Swimming Club and vice-president of Manly Lifesavers and of the surf men's footbgll club.