1918.] The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. 131 
Final Report of Departmental Committee on Juvenile Education , vol. ii, 
pp. 20-25, London, 1917.) 
Whatever the causes may be, increase of productive capacity per worker 
seems to lead rather to shortening the hours of labour than to increase in 
population. 
With high wages and short hours the worker is placed in a highly 
favourable position as regards leisure and the means to live reasonably 
well. Granted that the intelligent development of the industrial machine 
will lead to this result, the burden of slavery which the standardization 
of craft and machines brings with it will be greatly lessened. 
The daily task will not in itself, however, become a labour of love 
simply because it is short; nor will the practice of it tend to develop the 
man into a worthy citizen of a democratic State. He will probably need 
to be more than a mere monograph on some part of his trade—perhaps a 
text-book on its principles as well, so that he may use the power given to 
him to perform one of a given series of operations with more intelligent 
appreciation of the relation of this operation to the others in the manu¬ 
facturing process. 
It follows that the best conditions that can be expected for the rank 
and file of the population include— 
(1.) A fairly long childhood, free from industrial labour : 
(2.) A fairly short apprenticeship or learning stage in a more or less 
simple operation or series of operations : 
(3.) Short hours of highly specialized labour, but some responsibility 
and considerable nervous strain : 
(4.) Considerable leisure time. 
The serious potentialities involved in these conditions are already suffi¬ 
ciently evident in many countries, and for its own health’s sake the State 
must assume new responsibilities and make new demands on the services 
of the citizens. 
The long hours of childhood must be employed to the best advantage 
in preparation for adult citizenship. The youth, rapidly becoming adept 
at the few simple operations of his daily work, must be trained in the general 
principles of the mechanics of production and distribution, and by a more 
detailed study of the particular branch with which he is connected, so that 
he may be transferred if necessary from one part to another without loss 
of efficiency. He must also be trained in citizenship; and finally, so far as 
the State is concerned, he must be taught how to use his leisure time, how 
to gain the cunning of hand and eye and brain which his trade does not 
develop in him, and how to appreciate and enjoy craftsmanship and art 
in all its aspects and manifestations. 
How far the State should go in providing for this varied training, and 
to what extent it should compel the local body, the industrial organization 
of whatever kind, and the individual citizen separately to provide, are 
questions which will perhaps receive their answers in accordance with the 
particular necessities of each case. 
The business of the State will be to see that its own safety and good 
health are not imperilled by any want in the provision made, or in the 
effectiveness of the training given. And while it will doubtless be of con¬ 
siderable advantage to the State to encourage and develop in its more 
energetic and able citizens the highest standard of human excellence and 
efficiency, it will be at least equally advantageous and far more necessary 
to see that the less capable receive a suitable and satisfying endowment. 
It is perhaps in this respect that present provision is least adequate and 
least well advised. 
