248 



The Review of Reviews, 



March 20, 1906. 



glOUS. 



Tasmanian Institution for the Blind and Deaf and Dumb 



Adult Deaf and Dumb Missions have been 

 established in Victoria, South Australia, and Queens- 

 land, and the school for the deaf and dumb ai 

 Sydney makes some provision for the adult deaf 

 ajid dumb mutes in New South Wales. In connec- 

 tion with the South Australian Mission, there is a 

 Farm and Home for the aged and infirm. These 

 Adult Missions, be it noted, are distinctly charitable 

 organisations. They are supported by public sub- 

 scription, and receive no Government grants. 



The Director of the Melbourne Mission, Mr. 

 Ernest J. D. Abraham, is a hearing and speaking 

 expert, who has spent some 

 23 years in the work, and 

 was brought to Australia 

 from England some years 

 ago. 



In Adelaide and Queens- 

 land the directors them- 

 selves are deaf mutes. 

 Sydney has no pennanent 

 agent, but one of the old 

 pupils of the institution de- 

 votes some of his spare 

 time to the w-ork. 



As I have mentioned, 

 South Australia cares for 

 the deaf mute from child- 

 hood to old age, and in 

 this she has reached the 

 world's high water mark in 

 regard to these deserving 

 people. That this is so is 

 chiefly due to the splendid 

 self-denial efforts of Mr. 

 Samuel Johnson, M.A., an 

 enthusiast in this w^ork. 



How necessary an adult 

 mission is can readily be 

 conceived. What is to be 

 done with deaf mutes 

 when they leave school ? 

 The average parent, whose 

 other children are normal, 

 would have a considerable 

 difficulty in knowing what 

 to do with them. Just here 

 the Mission steps in and 

 makes the child the object 

 of its solicitude. In a sense 

 the Mission becomes the 

 home of the deaf and 

 dumb. There they meet 

 their fellows who speak 

 their language and under- 

 stand one another. The 

 place is generally a verit- 

 able hive of industry. For 

 instance, the Adult Deaf 

 and Dumb Mission in 

 Melbourne is the rallying 

 point of the 500 deaf and 

 dumb of Victoria. To it they can always look with 

 certainty for sympathy, for protection and help. 



It is also the birthplace and the cradle of an 

 organisation that unites the deaf of the Common- 

 wealth. One notable feature of this mission is 

 that, with the exception of the principal, the whole 

 of the working staff are deaf and honorary. 



The building also contains a church, used also 

 as a lecture hall, and there is, in addition, a library 

 and reading-room, and classrooms for the men and 

 women. 



It is quite interesting to attend here on a Sunday, 



Sydney Church and Institute for the Adult Deaf and Dumb. 



