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Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3672, 1 October 1880, Page 2

The London. Times says:—" The time has come to prepare for; the. new census. Next year it mus.tde taken, and it is not too soon to make, ready the machinery necessary for the'work. _ The undertaking lis no light one. It involves the employment of an army of some 32,000 oolleetors or ' enumerators,' and $%*$ registrars* It requires not merest'^''services of the registrar-general^' apartment, but also, a host of ovei&ers, constables, »nd relieving officers. The mere operation/. of taking the census : will : peaapy> only a day or two. It is proposed next^ year to follow the course taken in 1871; that is, to leave the. papers* with householders on the night of Satur. day, April 2nd, and to collect.them on Monday, April 4th. When however the " enumerators ".harecopied tho schedules and handed v\ their returns, the .Work has. but begun. The task of digesting and classifying the numerals.remains, and it is arduous. The Begistrar General will publish a preliminary report by June of. 1882. Bat the entire work may not be' completed until more than two years hare elapsed. In fact, the. time spent in preparing the Scotch and Irish final reports ' of 1871 was much longer, the. former not having been published until May 1874, and the latter having appeared in September of 1875. Some notion of the vastness of the work is to be deprived from the cost, which about £100,000 in 1861,, and which has grown by about £20,000 on each occasion. ■■•''':

A curious attempt to discourage drinking by bringing public opinion to bear is worth noting. An Act has been passed by the Massachussets Senate to prohibit the erection of screens in barrooms. The principle of the measure is of course,. that a good many men who hare not the grace of abstinence, are nevertheless not depraved enough to drink in "the. fierce light which beais " upon the bar. But before the triumph of this kind of legislation is complete, the " giant evil of the back door "—so American reformer*-^ insist-Hnust be deal with.