THE NEW ZEALAND 
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 
AND 
VOL. 1. 
TECHNO LOG¥f«^. 
__ rs s n ^ 
'Wellington, JVIay, 191^ ^ L £ 6 ]§ f $ o . 
THE FUNCTIONS OF THE STATE IN RELATION TO 
TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 
By W. S. La Trobe, M.A., Director, Technical College, Wellington. 
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates and men decay. 
—Goldsmith. 
There seems to be no sound reason, from the purely materialistic point of 
view, why modern methods of production and distribution, such as are illus¬ 
trated in the great factories of the larger manufacturing countries, should not 
be extended to almost every field of human labour. Indeed, the rapid exten¬ 
sion of these methods to new fields has been one of the most remarkable, 
as it is also one of the most natural, results of the present world war. 
That this rapid development will be stayed when peace comes seems 
very improbable; every indication points to an acceleration of the present 
rate of growth of industrial organization. It is also evident that in all 
Allied countries the State will be compelled to- encourage and to regulate 
the development of the industrial machine so as, if possible, to meet the 
cut-throat competition which at present seems inevitable, without at the 
same time sacrificing those humanitarian and democratic principles for 
which the war is now being waged. 
The root problem here involved is to find means of reconciling the 
creation and the operation of a perfectly organized industrial machine 
with the development of a sturdy, stable, and refined democracy. To under¬ 
stand the nature of this problem we must consider the main principles which 
must be observed in developing the industrial machine ; the labour condi¬ 
tions for its efficient operation ; and, finally, the main principles on which 
from the industrial point of view, the well-being of the democracy depends. 
Now, the main aim of the industrial machine is the utmost possible 
utilization of natural resources with the least possible human effort. This 
involves the highest possible productive capacity per unit of population. 
The two main principles employed are—(1) division of labour, or specializa¬ 
tion ; and (2) increase of mechanical power used by each operative. By 
the first of these principles the demand on the individual worker is sim¬ 
plified ; by the second his power is increased; by both together his efficiency 
as a producer is enormously increased. 
The machine or system is complicated and powerful, the working of 
it simple and, as far as possible, “ fool-proof.” So far as the operative is 
9—Science. 
