The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-30 00:00:00

SIGHTLESS.

(From the Examiner.)

Sight-seeing is now the word in every towns-
man's mouth, and as we write curtains are rising
on the costly glitter of a crowd of pantomimes. A
great feast is prepared for the eyes, yet there sit
at our social table some who are sightless, and who
have a claim to be remembered now because
(through nobody's in-doing, be it said at once),
they happen to have been deprived of some of their
bread for the convenience and pleasure of the town.

At 127 Euston-road there is a little brush and
basket and mat maker's shop, at which are sold the
goods of all descriptions made by free blind
workpeople of London. It is the shop of an
" Association for the Welfare of the Blind,"
established and sustained in a great measure
by the beneficent energies of a blind lady, the
daughter of the Bishop of Chichester, and sup-
ported in part by a subscription list, in part by
customers, A blind workman cannot possibly
compete in speed of workmanship with one
who sees, and for this reason alone the
bind men's shop, if it is to feed the workers
who supply it, cannot be absolutely self-supporting.
But there is more done at the little house than mere
shopkeeping. Everything that can be devised for
the aid of the blind poor, not only by leading them
out of enforced idleness into ways of honest indus-
try, but by circulation among them of books printed
for use of the blind, by social gatherings, by friendly
counsel, it is within the scheme of this Association
to work out. An active superintendent, blind him-
self, is placed there, who gives his thought to the
introduction of as many trades and forms of work
as are within reach of blind labour. Some fifty
varieties of industry, we believe, this gentleman
has introduced, and these—mat, brush, and basket
work being, of course, the chief—are taught to
blind uninstructed men and women on the premises.
So it is that, by the agency of this institution, blind
men and women have been sought out and with-
drawn even from hopeless beggary upon the street,
taught to work, and supplied with their share of
public support to their industry. The shop in the
Euston-road is in fact a sort of co-operative store,
wisely and generously managed, of which the
whole profit, with something added from a sub-
scription list to make up for the abatement made by
physical infirmity in rate of work, goes to the
worker. The advantage of what trade there is all
the blind operatives share in fair proportion. When
the trade fails all suffer.

Now it happens that, for the great convenience
of London in the construction of the new Under-
ground Railway, the traffic of the Euston-road has,
during the last year, been seriously impeded, and
for a long time this little shop of the blind workers,
afflicted, as in a different and much more terrible
way Lancashire is, by conditions not of its
own making, , lost its trade to the very serious
amount of twenty pounds a week. The mana-
gers of the association faced and struggled with
the difficulty as they could, and they are
indeed now endeavouring to form a West-end
settlement. But the sightless labourers, whose
power of earning their bread was thus under-
mined, are now actually being supported through
the winter by a generous sacrifice of the
capital of the Association, not in gifts, but in ad-
vances on the profits of the better days that may
return next summer. If any of our Christmas sight-
seers should pay a visit to the little shop, they will
be shown through the instruction room,the library,
containing every book and appliance printed or
manufactured in this country for blind readers and
writers, and see much more of the good work that
certainly ought not to thrive the less because we
have the railroad the more. A return of customers,
a few more annual subscriptions, above all, a little
personal attention and interest where that can be
spared, will very soon undo the hurt that has acci-
dentally been done to this honest, unostentatious,
and hitherto successful institution for the aid of
those who would account, in these Christmas holi-
days, no sight so precious as the simple power of
seeing, on its way to their mouths, the bread that is
now being lent to them.

The Manufacture of Ice in India.

(From the Bengal Hurkaru.)

Wo published last year the official correspondence (which
had been placed at the disposal of the press) between the
Military Finance Department and the Government of India
originating in a suggestion made by the former to intro-
duce the machine for making ice into this Presidency, with
a view to supplying that luxury, or, in this country, ne-
cessary,' to the European soldiers in barracks and in hospi-
tals, of better quality and in larger quantity, also with more
regularity, than is obtainable by the plain process of manu-
facture in vogue in the Mofussil, and which process, being
liable to be affected by the weather, was admittedly uncer-
tain. The correspondence, it may perhaps be in the recol-
lection of our readers, closed for the time with an order
from Government to the Finance Department to institute
inquiries as to the stations at which the machines, if im-
ported, could be turned to the best account, not only in the
supply of ice to the European soldiery but to the
community generally, European and native. ,The result of
the inquiries made by the several authorities who were ad-
dressed in the matter by the finance department, having
been submitted to Government, the latter has declared its
willingness to import these machines, to be set up at Alla-
habad, Lucknow, and Mean Meer, these stations being
considered to afford the fairest and best field for their use.
If the trials at these places prove remunerative to Govern-
ment, as the department believes they will, then the ma-
chines are to be set up at others also, should private indi-
viduals not be willing to do so themselves. The cost of
the machine and the charges for importing it being heavy,
the experiment is to be made first at Lucknow only, and an
indent has been despatched to the home authorities for a
No. I machine, which is capable of turning out four tons,
or 8,9601b5., or 4,480 seers of ice daily. The cost of the
machine is estimated at £1,365, but as it is worked by
steam, it will have attached a 10-horse power engine, with
gearing complete, the boilers of the engine being
adapted to burn firewood only, which is the only fuel pro-
curable at Lucknow. A supply of 15 cwt. of ether (which
is used in the manufacture of the ice, the amount being
equal to a year's consumption) and certain extra articles
have also been indented for. These—that is the engine,
ether, and extras—are estimated to cost £550. The entire
cost, therefore, of the machine, its appendages and appur-
tenances, will bo a little over £1,900. Ten per cent. on
this amount is estimated to cover freight, insurance, and
transport charge to Lucknow. It has been ascertained
that the machine requires to be attended to by a prac-
tical mechanic, one who understands its peculiar con-
struction and working; and to prevent any breakdown
in India from ignorance of these matters it has
been suggested to the home authorities to place two men of
the Sapper and Miner corps at the service of the inventors
of the machine, who have expressed their readiness to
instruct the men in the details of the machinery. On
the article being put up in this country, these men will in-
struct others in the manner of its working. On arrival at
Lucknow it will be placed under charge of Captain Cham-
berlain, superintendent of Thuggee. The daily cost of
working it is estimated at 22.8. At this rate, and with the
daily out-turn of ice as 8,9601b5., the rate of sale will be
6-2-9, or three seers per pice, thus placing ice within the
means of the poorest who from sickness may need it. To
utilise the experiment as far as possible, it is proposed to
send ice during the seven hot months of the year, by relays
of bearers, or by Government cattle, from Lucknow to
Roy Bareilly and Seetaporo (stations in the neighbour-
hood) for the use of the troops, and such of the commu-
nity at those places as wish for it. It is estimated, that
after setting apart a fair proportion of daily out-turn for
the consumption of the troops, full one-third will be avail
able for the public.

THE SHOE PINCHING.—The import duty of
foreign white paper is 30 per cent., which under the
pre, oat rate of exchange is prohibitory. And it is only in
consequence of this duty that our own papermakers are able
to take advantage of a scarcity of rags, and by combining
together to f )rce prices up to their present enormous rate. But
for the duty publishers could resort to the foreign market,
and by inti educing a new element cf competition keep prices
here within reasonable bounds. But under the existin
tariff such printing paper as we use could not be imported
and sold here for less than 22 cents a pound ; our manufac-
turers, therefore, feel quite safe in fixing prices at or even
above that figure. This bears not only upon newspaper
publishers, but upon book publishers, consumers of writing
paper, and everybody who uses paper of any kind. The
Government itself will suffer losses to the amount of hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars in consequence of the present
enormous price of paper of all kinds which they are com-
pelled to use. The tariff on paper meantime yields the
Treasury no revenue, because it prohibits imports. It in-
flicts immense injury, therefore, up')n the great mass of the
reading community, while it does no good to anybody but
the few papermakers, whom it aids in their exactions upon
the public at large. We hope Congress will give some at-
tention to this matter as one of very great and pressing is-
terest. There is no sound or substantial reason why they
should not at once repeal the import duty on paper, and
thus give all consumers the benefit of access to the foreign
market.—New York times.