HELPING THE BLIND.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1920, Page 4

HELPING THE BLIND.

It'would be difficult to diseover a movement. more worthy of support than the campaign which has been organised by Mr. C. A. Bloomfield, of Dunedih, with the object of obtaining State assistance to blind people in obtaining suitable employment, supplemented by a State pension scheme to augment the earnings of those who can work, and to maintain th&.unemployable. There are six hundred blind people in New Zealand, and out of these ninety per cent are receiving no benefits whatever, either from the Jubilee Institute or its funds, while fifty per cent of the total blind are unemployable because of lack of training, advanced age, or other disabilities. When it is considered that not more than ten per cent of the total blind are engaged in useful and profitable occupations, and that the remainder are mostly dependent on charity for sustenance, it will be seen that the case for State help is very strong. It is said that the education and training given to blind children at the present day is inadequate, and everyone will realise that the handicap of blindness in industry is' too great to bo overcome except by a few who are notable exceptions to the general rule. The blind, especially those who are poor, must feel keenly the need for State help as a matter of right and not as a charity. The heroic struggles made by the blind to earn their living are wellknown, but What of those who are helpless? Truly their plight is such as to arouse the utmost practical sympathy. The national petition to Parliament for suitable legislation to give the blind improved education and technical and industrial training on modern lines, and to introduce a system of pensions, should appeal strongly to all sections of the community, and the greater the support accorded to that petitioij the more likely is success to be achieved, while funds are urgently needed from the public to foster the campaign. Help in either or both these directions will be a beneficent way of securing justice for those who are so heavily handicapped and who have to live their lives in darkness. It is a cause in which every citizen should gladly give the help and should be grateful for the privilege of co-operating in so good a work.