Accounting for kiwis the 1986 census

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 29, 10 December 1985, Page 12

Accounting for kiwis the 1986 census

As the 1986 census approaches Judy Doyle, of Ohakune, is working out how to count the residents of the Waimarino. Mrs Doyle is working 20 hours a week until after the census has been carried out on 4 March next year. Everyone in New Zealand is required to fill in the five yearly forms, which will be delivered door to door to every house in the area. Mrs Doyle will be interviewing enumerators this month who will be employed to deliver and collect census forms to and from each house.

There will be eight enumerators, and probably two people to deliver forms to special areas, such as ski chalets and lodges. As every person who is living in a particular house at midnight on March 4 has to fill out the form from that house, it will be difficult finding people who are away from home staying in chalets and ski lodges, and tramping and hunting. Because the census has to be 100 per cent accurate, Mrs Doyle will be employing only the best people. As the job is paid well she believes she will have a good choice.

Her job is to check that every person in every house in the area receives a census form and fills it in. "The only reason people have to put their names on the forms is to make sure everyone who was given a form has filled one in," she said. Once the forms leave this area, they will be sent to Christchurch where the statistics are to be worked out. However, people's names will not be sent with the forms to Christchurch. Mrs Doyle pointed out that the census is confidential and there is no way that the Inland Revenue Department, Social Welfare or anyone else can see the forms, so people need not be worried about putting their true income and other personal details on the forms. She stressed that answers need to be accurate. "The statistics resulting from the census are used to make policy, such as whether more schools and hospitals are needed because of increased population, and the number of unemployed people there are," she said. Mrs Doyle's area covers from just beyond Pokaka in the north to Raukawa Falls on the Parapara Road to the south, and from the Wanganui River in the west to near Waiouru in the east. As well as her work as the district supervisor for the census, Mrs Doyle spends 1 5 hours a week as the visiting teacher for schools in the Ruapehu-Taihape area.