CENSUS TAKING

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 123, 20 November 1935, Page 4

CENSUS TAKING

PRELIMINARY WORK

BIG CHANGES SINCE 1926

DATE NOT YET FIXED

With the tremendous economic and social changes that have taken place within the last ten years, the coming census in New Zealand is bound to disclose some highly interesting and significant features of community development and trends in the Dominion. This stocktaking of the human wealth of the country is not only of extreme importance to the Government and its advisers, but it is of inestimable value to. the trader, as it acts as a base upon which he can adjust his business operations. Plans for the taking of the census are well forward, a "Post" reporter learned today, but before the full details are completed they have to receive the approval of the Minister in charge.

No indication was ascertainable as to the nature of the schedule that will be issued to each household, but it will, of course, be just as inquisitive as ! usual. While it might ask a number of highly personal questions, there is comfort in the thought that you can confess everything and that nothing will be used in evidence against you. The contents of each schedule are kept a close secret. They are known only to the officials directly concerned, and they are under oath not to reveal any information detailed on the schedules. As soon as the particulars are transferred to cards, and the authors of the schedules reduced from names to numbers, the final accounting takes place and the schedules are destroyed.

A sample of the personal schedule used in the 1926 census gives an indication of the variety and scope of the questions asked. There are sixteen ma] or questions on this, and a little note at the top of the sheet reminds one that there is a penalty of £20 awaiting a person who does not answer the questions completely and accurately. NATURE OF QUESTIONS. After the orthodox questions relating to name, address, age, and sex, the schedule becomes a little more personal about one's domestic status and character of occupation, and so on. Occupations are graded. If you happen to be an employer you put down the letter E; if you are in business on your on account you are known as O; if you are a regular wage-earner you take W; and if you happen to be relaively working for nothing you are simply A. In another section you are asked to denote the number of working-days lost during the previous twelve months, and the cause of their being lost— whether sickness, accident, injury, or unemployment not due to strikes or lock-outs. Your birthplace and length of residence in New Zealand are required, along with your religious profession and your nationality, and you are asked to indicate the category in which your income falls.

Altogether it is a comprehensive document. Those responsible for it did not leave very much out.

An assurance that all the information will be treated confidentially appears in more than one place on the schedule, and on the back of the 1926 schedule is the following: "The Government gives an unqualified assurance that the information obtained will be used only for statistical purposes. As on previous occasions, when the information from the census schedules Is tiansferred to the punched machine cards, where the identity of the individual is quite lost, the schedules themselves will be destroyed by fire under supervision."

The personal schedules were used for all persons except such members of the family of the householder or occupier of a dwelling as ordinarily resided in such dwelling. In addition to a personal schedule a dwelling schedule was issued. HOUSING CONDITIONS. In addition to particulars of a personal nature, information about housing conditions, a feature of every Census since 1916, is sought, though in certain respects • the quantitative analysis practicable in a Census does not supply all the information necessary for a comprehensive survey of housing conditions. Work of this character is to be undertaken independently. No definite date" has yet been selected, though the Minister in charge (the Hon. A. Hamilton) intimated some time ago that a date in April has been set aside. This has yet to be confirmed. For more than six years autumn has been the chosen period for the taking of a Census. Three factors govern this choice. In the first place the date must be late enough in the season to avoid any undue dislocation of population as a result of holiday-making. The date of Easter, of course, has to be considered in this connection. Climate also enters into the question. While there are certain advantages in favour of a mid-winter Census, there would be certain other difficulties and expense. In April it is generally found that the weather is more settled, and, of course, the days are longer. Then there is the question of uniformity with other countries. At the 1920 Empire Statistical Conference it was resolved that all countries should aim at a Census date falling within two months of April 15, unless local conditions •were such as to prevent this. While it was the custom for many years to collect the Census statistics on a Sunday, they were collected last time on a week day—on a Tuesday— and this day has been set aside for the 1936 Census, according to the last announcement made by the Minister. The widespread growth of the weekending habit was responsible for the departure from the Sunday. It was fel that there would be more stability of _ population on a working day, and this, of course, is essential if the collection of data is to be facilitated.