1891.
Of these, 2430 were over 60 years of age and 11 over 100. These
figures do not include the partially blind, who numbered 1217. The
fact that so many aged blind persons are to be found in Ireland is
doubtless due to an ophthalmic epidemic which occurred during the
Irish famine. There are twelve institutions, a home mission and home
teaching society; nine of these institutions are asylums, that system
having been largely adopted in Ireland. The scarcity of manufacturing
industries, except in a few northern counties, entails a lack of work
suited to the blind. The Elementary Education Act (Blind and Deaf)
does not extend to Ireland.

The following table gives the number of blind in age-groups in 1901:--

+---------------+---------+----------------+---------+
| Age-Period. | Number. | Age-Period. | Number. |
+---------------+---------+----------------+---------+
| Under 5 years | 10 | 50-55 | 392 |
| 5-10 | 38 | 55-60 | 314 |
| 10-15 | 64 | 60-65 | 617 |
| 15-20 | 73 | 65-70 | 382 |
| 20-25 | 95 | 70-75 | 540 |
| 25-30 | 116 | 75-80 | 306 |
| 30-35 | 146 | 80-85 | 372 |
| 35-40 | 146 | 85-90 | 118 |
| 40-45 | 205 | 95 and upwards | 95 |
| 45-50 | 224 | | |
+---------------+---------+----------------+---------+

British Colonies.

In the Dominion of Canada, South Africa, the states of the Australian
Commonwealth and New Zealand, provision is made by the government for
the education of the young blind, and in some cases for training the
adults in handicrafts. Embossed literature is carried free of expense,
and on the Victorian railways no charge is made for the guide who
accompanies a blind person.

The following were the census returns for 1901:--

Victoria 1082 Tasmania 173
New South Wales 884 New Zealand 274 (1891)
South Australia 315 Natal 68
Queensland 209 Cape Colony 2802 (1904)
West Australia 121 Canada 3279

In Australia there are institutions for the blind at Melbourne,
Sydney, Adelaide, Brighton, Brisbane and Maylands near Perth. In New
Z