The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-15 00:00:00

VELFABE OF THE BLIND ASSOCIATION:

The twelfth annual meeting of the Association for
Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind was held on
Thursday afternoon in St. James's Hall, Piccadilly, the
Bishop of Rochester in the chair. Theattendance was both
numerous and influential, and in the body of the hall were
a large number of ladies, amongst whom were Miss Gilbert,
the lady president, and Mrs. Gladstone. The report states
that the prosperity of the society remains unimpaired, and
that circumstances warrant the hope of a speedy increase
of its usefulness. The total number of blind men and
women now receiving benefits, in various ways, from the
society, amounts to 172, of whom 61 are supplied with
regular work at their own homes, 23 are instructed and
employed at the workshops of the association, and 25 are
engaged in selling goods for the society. Pensions,
varying from £5 to £l2 per annum, are granted to
15 blind persons who are unable to earn their own
living, and 43 men and women, in addition to obtain.
ing occasional employment and pecuniary aid, participate
in the educational and religious advantages conferred by
the association on all those connected with it. Of the
total number of men and women employed at their own
homes and at the workhouse, 7 earn from £1 ls. to £1 ss.
per week, 12 from 16s. to £1 per week, 16 from 12s. to
15s. per week, 18 from 6s. to lls. per week, and 36 from
3s. to ss. per week. Of the total number of persons
assisted,. 58 are married, and have 80 children dependent
on them for support. Of those employed at their own
homes and at the society's workshop, 31 are women,
who earn respectively from 4s. to 10s. per week.
The blind officials connected with the institution
are the director, the teachers of music, brushmaking,
carpentry, bead-work, leather-work, reading, writing,
and general education, and town travellers. The receipts
of the year amounted to £5,663, and the expenditure to
£5,869. The adoption of the report was moved in a
brief address by the Right Hon. William Ewart Glad-
stone, M.P., in the course of which he observed that
there were about 30,000 blind persons iipthe kingdom, of
whom probably less than 3,000 were in circumstances to
place them beyond the province of such an institution
as this. Nine-tenths of our blind population were just
objects of Christian benevolence, and perhaps one-tenth
only were provided for by the agency of this and other
similar associations in the country. The blind had far
greater need of family sympathy than the rest of society,
and we should never forget the debt we owed to the generous
and afflicted lady who originated this charity for the pur-
pose of introducing a reform in the mode of treating the
blind. The system was not only appreciated at home, but

it had found an echo in America, where it had lately been
adopted. It wa.3 once observed that directly a man be-
came a slave he became socially and morally but.half a
man, and with regard to his physical relations that was
precisely the condition of the blind man. The aim and
object of this society was to supply him with that moiety
of himself which he had lost through the visitation of
Providence, and he heartily rejoiced to be able to spare a
moment of his over-occupied time to bear witness in
behalf of its enlightened usefulness.. The motion, which was
seconded by the Earl of Harrowby, was carried by accla-
mation.

We are enabled to state that the rumours in
extensive crirculation with respect to the report of the
Irish Church Commission rest on no authority whatever ;
and that the report, so far from being already presented, is
not yet prepared.— Tinies. _ .

- - -
REPRESENTATION OF ABERDEEN.—The Banffshire
Journal understands that in the event of a second seat
being given to this city under the new Reform Bill, Mr.
Clark, son of Sir James Clark, is likely to come forward as
a Liberal candidate.

THE PRINCESS OF WALES.—It is a pity that
gossip ever refuses to be content with simple facts, but is
always inventing mystery as a cloak for ignorance. A
very slight knowledge of the laws of health would teach
that the long recent illness of her Royal Highness the
Princess of Wales is a sufficient reason why a fatiguing
trip to Ireland cannot in prudence be immediately followed
by a visit to Leeds. In this prohibition, which has given
rise to all sorts of tittle-tattle, we are content to note
nothing beyond the exercise of wise discretion on the part
of those in whose hands the health of the Princess has
been well cared for.—The Lancet.

THE ALIBI OF BARRETT. —Mr. Poland, Q.C.,
returned to Glasgow on Wednesday morning, and in the
Central Police-office proceeded to take the depositions of
several persons as to the alibi of the convict M. Barrett.
Amongst the witnesses were two officers connected with
the Glasgow police and two women. It has not yet been
allowed to transpire as to what facts they have been
examined upon ; but it is believed that, whatever be the
importance of their testimony, its tendency is against the
alibi. It would appear that the girl Kerr, who was
examined on Friday last, made, amongst other statements,
one to the effect that when she last saw Barrett—shortly
after the torchlight procession on the Green—he left her
house, and, entering a cab along with another man, was
driven, as she understood, to the Caledonian Railway.
WILL OF THE COUNTESS OF COTTENHAIII.—The
will, dated the Bth May, 1866, of the Countess of Cotten-
ham, late of the Cedars, Sunninghill, Berks, who died on
the 7th ult., was proved on the 12th inst. by the Hon.
George Pepys, barrister-at-law, the son, the sole executor.
The personal property is sworn under £2,000. The testa-
trix leaves her trinkets and jewellery to her six daughters,
Lady Charlotte Maria, Lady Frances Mary, Lady
Caroline, Lady Emily Harriet, Lady Elizabeth Theresa,
and Lad Evelyn ; and her household goods and effects to
such of her daughters living at her decease who shall not
have been married. The countess gives all her moneys,
after the payment thereout of her debts and funeral and
testamentary expenses, to all her children other than her
eldest son, and she appoints in their favour a certain sum
of £lO,OOO held in trust under the will of her maternal
grandfather Edward Earl of Digby. The deceased was
the widow of the late Lord Chancellor Cottenham.
FATAL ACCIDENTS TO TWO UNDERGRADUATES.—
Two fatal accidents occurred on Thursday to under-
graduates at Oxford. The first took place at an early
hour in the morning, and resulted in the death of Mr.
E. -Marriott, of Christ Church, eldest son of the Rev.
J. Marriott, of Coltesbach, Leicestershire. Deceased was
master of the Christ Church harriers, and a skilful
gymnast, his forte consisting in climbing up the front
of buildings. On Wednesday night he conversed with
several of his friends on the difficulty he had experienced
in an attempt to get from the window of his rooms—No. 7,
Pvckwater—to the floor above ; and he stated that he
should renew his efforts to accomplish the tagk. The
chief difficulty consisted in getting round the projecting
pillar, where the wall afforded no foothold. About two
o'clock in the morning a heavy fall was heard, and
deceased was found lying on the pavement below. He
was dying when discovered. An inquest was held in the
afternoon, and a verdict of accidental death returned.
In the course of the same afternoon Mr. James Watson
Barns, of Exeter College, was practising shooting in a
punt, at the rear of Magdalen College, with a saloon
pistol, when the weapon exploded. The deceased, who
was seriously wounded, was at once carried to Magdalen
Collect,. where hQ vxPixesi_gwvtly after the, occurrepgg,