THE MACHINE AGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 219, 15 September 1932, Page 3

THE MACHINE AGE.

EFFECT ON COMMUNITY. PROBLEM OF DISTRIBUTION. A paper dealing with the machine age was read by Mr. T. Bloodworth before the executive of the Auckland branch of the Town-planning Institute. The chairman, Mr. W. J. Holdswortii, presided. Mr. Bloodworth dealt with the influence of machinery on unemployment and the economic and social life of the community. The machine age, he said, had had the effect of diverting 75 per cent of the population of Britain to the towns, completely reversing the order that obtained 100 years ago. The machine ago had also had another important effect. Statistics published in America recently showed that out of 100 persons born under existing conditions 30 would die before they reached the a<;c of 05j 54 would become dependent for some part of their existence on some form of private or public charity; five would become absolute paupers or criminals; four would become moderately well -off; and one would become wealthy. It was no wonder that the question "Is the machine the friend of man or his rival ?" should be asked.

Machine production, paid Mr. Bloodworth, liad made it possible for man to live and to enjoy a world which scientific investigation, inventive genius, and mechanical skill had opened up. It was only the fact that the methods of control and distribution bad not kept pace with scientific discovery and inventive genius that provented the people of the world from reaching that happy state to-day. The fact that, to some extent, the machine bad broken loose and was doing damage was the, fault of man, and not of the machine. Mr. Bloodworth urged town-planners to advocate the proper uses of machinery and to remedy its abuses, principally the maldistribution of the plentiful products of the machine age.