Deaf Institute To Be Started In Auckland Soon

The Friends of the Deaf has paid £3000 for a three-quarter acre site at 166 Balmoral Road and in the new year it will begin to erect there the first permanent institute for deaf adults in New Zealand.

Announcing this, the president, Mr J. Oxspring, said that the hall would be up by the end of next year and in two more years—if finance permitted—work would begin on the main part of the two-storey building. In this part there would be workshops, hobby, lecture and reading rooms, a library and a small chapel.

“Since our £40,000 appeal began in June,” said Mr Oxspring, “I have received letters, and in some cases visits, from deaf-born all over New Zealand. Some are prepared to move to Auckland to attend the institute. No accommodation will be available, but it is hoped later to establish branches in other centres.”

Experienced instructors had offered their services free and would conduct courses in lipreading and teach occupational therapy and other subjects.

For 16 years the Auckland Adult Deaf Society has been homeless. Apart from a room provided weekly by the Community Sunshine Association, it could only hold an occasional rally or social evening in a rented hall. The adult deaf have refused to seek public assistance and yearly Government grants have never exceeded £100.

Friends of the Deaf is an organisation of hearing people set up to assist the adult deaf in Auckland. It came into existence at meetings attended by Church leaders, the medical profession and prominent citizens. Subscriptions to its institute appeal exceed £4000. Similar societies, said Mr Oxspring, would shortly be in existence in other centres.