CENSUS RETURNS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25312, 20 September 1945, Page 7

CENSUS RETURNS

PURPOSE OF QUESTIONS

EXPLANATION BY MR NASH (S.R.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday

A statement to clear up some misunderstandings which apparently had arisen about the questions asked in the census was made by the .Minister of I'inance, Mr Nash, in the House of Representatives today. He said it should he clearly understood that no quest-ions had been included for other than purely statistical purposes and that the information on each individual schedule was confidential.

Some people had inquired as to the purpose of the dwelling schedule, on which there were Iquestions, said Mr Nash. Eight, including the question dealing with the number of rooms, were the same as had been asked in previous censuses.

"The five new questions do not relate to space or rooms, but inquire whether the dwelling is supplied with electricity, what sort of cooking facilities it has, whether water is laid on, what sort of sanitary facilities are available and the distance from such essentia! services as buses and shops," Mr Nash continued, "information on these points is sought because an idea of the sort of dwellings people have to live in cannot he gained merely by knowing that there are so many roofs or so many rooms in the country. It is necessary to know how many of those dwellings provide ordinary overvdav amenities.

"Information on each individual schedule is confidential and no schedule will be made available to other than members of the staff of the Census and Statistics Office," proceeded the Minister. "The same assurance can be given in relation to the question about income. This question has nothing to do with income tax or any other taxation. The purpose is purely statistical, to enable the statistician to present a clear picture of the various income groups into which New Zealanders can be classified in relation to other data such as occupations. Similar questions have been asked in other censuses.

"it. has been suggested that instead of asking the question about income m th o census schedule the statistician could use income data already in the possession of the Commissioner of Taxes. This, however, is entirely impracticable because personal returns to the Taxation Department were just as confidential to tnat department as census and other statistical returns were confidential to the statistician. The protection given to this confidential information was such that neither department could disclose information to the other.

"The confidential nature of the information was emphasised on the census forms. It should be noted in this census that the provision of separate personal schedules for each person would assist those who desired additional measures to ensure secrecy during the period before the schedules reached the Census Department. "Reference has been made to the number of census questions set out in the recent Gazette notice," continued .Mr Nash. "This has given an erroneous impression that there are a large number of new questions. The explanation is that the Census and Statistics Act merely sets out certain basic heads of inquiry, the remainder having to be provided bv regulation for each census. So the list of questions recently gazetted included not merely a few new questions, hut also many that haa been asked during earlier censuses."

OVERLAPPING INTERESTS PRIVATE FIRMS AND STATE CLEAR DEMARCATION SOUGHT (P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Wednesday "At present we have servicemen coming back from overseas, some of them expecting to return to their former positions, only to find that through taxation and other difficulties and hindrances tfieir positions are not available for them," said the president of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. Mr A. R. bench, at the annual meeting of the chamber last night. "We feel that the time Iras come for the Government to state quite definitely and in clear terms just what is expected of private enterprise and just what the Government expects us to leave to the State machine," Mr Deneh said. "We feel that it is a matter of great urgency, and not. a matter which can wait for the next election. Many branches of industry and business are standing still because they are awaiting directions from the powers that be. We feel we have a very good case, and until the Government states its intentions and gives relief there is little that can be done about it."

DESERTION FROM SHIP A seaman, John Pyat.t, aged 22, appeared before Mr •!. Morling. S.M.. yesterday charged with deserting from the British shin Mauritania at Wellington. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one month's imprisonment.