THE CENSUS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1730, 23 April 1906, Page 4

THE CENSUS.

KEGIBTRAR GENERAL’S LETTER

Tho oonsus of Now Zealand will bo taken for the night of Sunday, tho 29th April, The oolony has boon divided into enumerators’ districts, each oonßisting of a group of contiguous oounties with tkoir interior boroughs. Tho enumerators have divided their dis'riots into subdistrict'’, for each cf whioh a sub enumerator has been or is to bo selfc'ed to distribute and oolloot tbo honsobold soheduhs Tbero will bo about nino bundrod sub-onumorators altogether. Each sub-enumerator will be p : t dsd with a mop of his district, ooiorod to show all existing territorial divisions, such as electoral districts, oounties, riding*, road and town districts, besides boroughs; anl tbo populations of all these will bo ascertained. The areas of tho Bub-enumerators’ districts will also be marked off on the maps into small blocks, and the population of these given by the sub enumerators, for the purpose of defining new eleotoral districts for the apportionment of tho European representation of the peoplo in Parliament. The partiou'ar3 required by the Aot rebooting the people include—name, sex, age, married or singlr, birthplace, religion, occupation, education, whether British subject or alien, if suff.ring from sickness, acoidcnt, or infirmity. The dwellings are a’so to be described ia rospoot of rooms and material.

Besides tho informat'on as to the population, speo’al returns will be oolleotad relating to a'l industries, manufactories, or works in tho colony, giving particulars as to tho hands and power employed, value of materials operated on, produce or manufacture, valuo of land and buildings, maohinory, and plan'. Further, returns ofplaeos of worship, .literary aad soiontifio institutions, etc., will also be collected by enumerators from information supplied by sub-rnumerators. The intelligent co operation of every ocoupier or person ia charge of a d wcllioghouso is earnestly desired to help in making a success of the oepsus work by carefully filling up the schedule. There is, indeed, a penally of £2O for 11 wilfully refusiog or noglectiug to fill up. sign, and deliver tbo form, or to answer the necessary inquiries which tho enumerators and Bub-enumsrators ate authorised and required to make, or for furoishiog false returns or answers, or for obstruoing any person in the performance of any duty imposed on him by the Census Act.” But it is hoped that proceedings at law will be found unnecessary, or at any rate, only needed in most exceptional cases. It must, however, be remembered that sub enumerators have defined powers of demanding the schedules, and of asking questions cf occupiers of houses to obtain oomp'eie returns. Tho information given in the schedule will be used only for tho compilation of statistical returns, Any person divulging or making use of it for anothc-r purpose is liable to a heavy penalty, USES OF THE CENSUS.

The census is tho only means of ascertaining correctly the distribution of the people throughout the country, and for this reason is essential to the work of dividing the co'ony anew into electorates of even population. Tho internal movement of the people oannot be ascertained oorrectly except by a census, though, when a oountry is insular, the natural increase (exoess of births over deaths), added to the excess of arrivals over departures, gives a fairly orrreot estimate of increase of population for the whole arra. For actuarial, purposes connected with life insurance, information suoh as tbo number of porsens married,•unmarried, and widowed, arrangod in groups of age-poriods, is needed. The numbers (in sex j B) of persons under and over twentyone years of age are required for multi-

farious purposes outside electoral matters. The numbeis of persons following variors oooupatiens are constantly required. Ths industrial returns test progress in regard to what is mads in the colony, and without this knowledge the cause of a rise or fall in the quantity of goods -imported oannot be properly investigated, or the purchasing power of the people cstimat d, It. is needless to mention the value of the emeus ip giving the true population of all the territorial divisions of the country, such es road districts, localities, eto, or its general use for purposes of comparisons. An instance of the effect of the census in adjusting the representation of the pocplo for Parliament is afforded by the figures relating to the North and South Islands for successive census years.