AUSTRALIAN CENSUS

Hokitika Guardian, 16 August 1933, Page 8

AUSTRALIAN CENSUS

BIG POPULATION GAIN

TOTAL OYER 6,600,000

SYDNEY, August 3

It is just four weeks since the Commonwealth census was taken, and preliminary figures show that the population of Australia stands at slightly more than 6,600,000. Owing to floods the papers from some of the outback places in Queensland have not yet reached Canberra, and it may he several days before any finality can be expected. The figures reveal the care exercised by the Commonwealth Statistician from time to time when he gives an estimate of the population. It is 12 years since the last census! was taken, yet the most recent estimate oi the population,'given a few months ago, was 6,539,270. The population "at the 1921 census was 5,435,743, and at the' census taken in 1911, 4,455,005. The figures now in sight show a threefold increase on the first enumeration in 1881. The population now is greater than that of England at the time of Queen Elizabeth. The Commonwealth now lias more people than Sweden, Austria, Greece and Portugal, all of which nations have loomed large in the history of the world.

The work of checking and rechecking the returns i 6 now proceeding in earnest, and it will he many months before the details will be revealed. The trend of population will be the subject of careful study, and it is bound to show once again the drift from the country to the city. It may also be shown that Queensland has gained at the expense of other states. It is quite likely that Queensland, a.-> a result of . the census figures, will secure additional representation in the Federal sphere. There will be a redistribution of Parliamentary seatg as soon as the census figures are complete. The final analysis will be important, because for the time being it will give an accurate count of the number of people who ai'e unemployed. Them are many who say that the employment position is not so bad as it appears on the surface. The census will 6 liow whether they are justified. In a fortnight’s time the cheeking sV>fE in. Canberra will have grown'to 250, and most of the members of t'mt staff can look forward Ur two years’ work. Almost the whole of ,the counting and checking will be done mechanically. Special counting machines hay# been hired from England, and cards on special paper have come front Canada. On these cards are numbers, each of which represents a factor to be tabulated. The numbers are punched, and then.the cards are put through a machine which counts’ and tabulates tb e m at the rate of 24,000 an hour. Each classification is given a code number. These codes will be tabulated on the machines. The whole work will resolve i+eelf into a matter of code figures, and actual words will never be used.