A visit to the Catholic School for the Deaf, conducted by the Dominican Sisters in Wellington, was paid recently by Dr. Irene Ewing and her husband, Dr. A. W. G. Ewing, renowned authorities on the education of the deaf. It will be heartening to New Zealand Catholics, as it must have been encouraging for those directly responsible for the education of the pupils at the school, to know that the visitors were very favourably impressed with the work they saw being done.
The Ewings, both husband and wife, the latter especially, are recognised experts on the education of the deaf. Dr. A. W. G. Ewing is professor of the subject at Manchester University. They recently visited Australia and New Zealand to advise the respective Governments with regard to this particular field of education and to inspect the various centres of instruction that have been set up for the needs of deaf children.
When the Ewings visited St. Dominic’s the children assembled in the recreation hall to greet them. One of the pupils read a simple address of welcome, and a souvenir of the visit was handed to Dr. Irene Ewing by the youngest child in the school. As a “party piece,” the children dramatised the Angelus, the words of the Blessed Virgin and the angel being said by three girls and three boys, while the Hail Mary was recited by a group-speaking class of ten. Dr. Irene Ewing commended the children for their articulation and spoke with high appreciation of the Sisters’ work with the children.
The next item was an English folk-dance performed by the children in honour of their British visitors. This was done to a gramophone accompaniment, and drew from the delighted guests the comment: “This is the first time we have ever seen deaf children dance to a gramophone.” The gramophone in question was fitted with a loud-speaker and the children kept perfect time to the music. Ordinarily an experienced pianist accompanies deaf children, and with gesture and movement, manages to convey to them the rhythm which builds up to keep time. In performing to a gramophone, however, the deaf child has no such aids, so that the feat did not go unnoticed.
In bidding farewell to the children, Dr. Irene Ewing said to them, as they watched her lips intently: “We are going home to England next week, and when we get there, we shall tell all the boys and girls about you in New Zealand.”
Growth of School
St. Dominic’s is the only Catholic institution for the deaf in New Zealand, and during the six years of its existence, has made solid progress. Beginning with very small numbers, it has grown into a sizeable school accommodating over thirty pupils and, at present, is unable to accept all the applications for enrolment that it receives.
As the present site does not lend itself to any large-scale development, arrangements have already been made to transfer the school to Palmerston North, where the archdiocese of Wellington has acquired a commodious site, affording adequate room for both the indoor and outdoor needs of this type of institution.
From what they saw in New Zealand, the Ewings must have been impressed by the willingness of the Catholic community to shoulder the added burden of educating the deaf, in order that their disability might not deprive them of a religious education.
The commendation of these distinguished specialists is a tribute not only to the devotion of the Sisters, but to the practical sympathy extended to this charitable work by the Catholics of New Zealand. It bears witness to the fact that charity can surmount many obstacles to material order, and that devotion is not always attended by success, even though full facilities for the work may not be available.
Such, however, is Catholic New Zealand charity, that it can never be satisfied with anything but the best, not only in the matter of personal devotion but in equipment and technique, for the best is not good enough to minister to the needs of Christ in the person of His afflicted.
