The Census

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26397, 16 April 1951, Page 6

The Census

To-morrow night the people of New Zealand will be called on to perform one of the least onerous and one of the least frequent of the few duties required of the citizens of a democracy—the filling in of census forms. The old objections of many to the census are rapidly disappearing (if they have not already gone), probably because householders now recognise the integrity of the Census and Statistics Department in keeping personal information confidential. The census, as a special correspondent of “The Times” quoted in another column to-day remarks, asks personal questions, but its interest is strictly impersonal. It does not seek—indeed it is strictly forbidden to seek—to put a label on any particular person, or to pass on information about him to any authority for use in its dealings with him. The census gives the community a picture of itself, showing how many persons possess certain common attributes but not which particular individuals possess them. It is possible that the immense value of the census in the formulation of national policy is still not fully realised. Everyone knows that electoral boundaries in New Zealand are altered according to information gained from the census; many may not understand that it is an indispensable instrument of social and scientific research. Without it, planning for the present and the future with any reasonable certainty would be impossible. Once the census is seen as an inquiry of fundamental importance and not as a bureaucratic inquisition, people will be prepared to do their small part towards making the information collected as nearly complete and as accurate as possible. Not much is required of them. All they have to do is to answer the simple questions to the best of th’eir ability, taking guidance, if necessary, from the instructions printed on the forms, and to have the completed forms ready when the census officials come to collect them. In this way they will share in a useful service.