COUNTING HEADS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11812, 25 September 1916, Page 5

COUNTING HEADS.

QUINQUENNIAL CENSUS. POSTAL DEPARTMENTS WORK. Tn these days tho Postal Department is rapidly attaining tho character of "handy man" in Government work. Officer.; of tho Department were charged with the compilation of the National Register, and they aro now to be used in the taking of the census. Sunday. October 15, is tho date fixed for the enumeration. The work of extracting information from the schedules will, a? usual, be undertaken by the Government Statistician, but the distribution and collection of the schedules is in | tho hands or tho Postal Department, j which is, without doubt, specially equipped to carry out this tank efficiently and at tho smallest possible cost. Some particulars of tho work to bo done have been supplied to tin? Press by tho Minister for Internal Affairs (Hon G. W. Russell). DOMINION DIVISIONS. Tho Dominion has been divided into ninety-four census districts, each containing one or more counties with interior boroughs, and in charge of an en. monitor ivlio is a responsible officer of .ho Postal Department. In tho subdistriHs—some 1006 —the collection and i distribution of schedules will be done wherever possible by postal officers familiar with the areas. Some 350, OviJ household schedules will be distributed, in addition to personal schedules for hotels, boarding-houses, ships, etc. These are designed to avoid passing the household schedule from hand to hand. A covering schedule, provided by tho hotel proprietor or other head oi the establishment, will ensure that a personal schedule is attached for each inmate of the house on census night. FOR MEN IN CAMP. Another personal schedule, tho filling in of which will bo supervised by the Defence Department, is for tho iiso of inmates of military and internmentcamps. On this the address prior <° enlistment will be given, so that taeniI here of the reinforcements in camp may be allocated to their proper districts. It tt'ill ba impossible to obtain similar particulars of the men now overseas, but the Defence Department will furnish a statement showing tho actual particulars on census night. Samoa will be dealt with on the same lines as tho camps. _ On this occasion a separate Maori census is beiu£ taken by the native Department for the North Island only. South Island Natives will be covered in the ordinary census. Special arrangements have also been made to covov the Cook .and other islands. WORK IN WELLINGTON. The Wellington census district is under the care of Mr N. R. M'lsaac, or the Chief Post Office. It includes the Hutt and Makara counties, with the interior boroughs, city of Wellington, . (hi a low, Miramar, Eastbourne, Lvaroii, Hutt and Peione. Approximately 21,000 household schedules, now contained in packing cases in the basement of the Post Office, will be distributed in thirty-one sub-districts of this area. To avoid possible loss of schedules, tlio distribution will be commenced as late as possible, on Octobei 9, but. as the sub-enumerators are mostly picked men from the letter-car-rying staff, they will be able to covei the ground quickly and yet avoid omissions. Wherever there is a letter delivery, postal men are being used, but in the counties and widely scattered .areas men of long standing and local knowledge are being engaged. Altogether twenty-one postal officials will'be enin thii* work, *vith icu outsiders. Tho sub-districts Have Wn arranged in workable areas, considering both the density of population and the ground to be covered. I ELECTORAL SUBDIVISIONS. j Roughly, each sub-enumerator In an urban district has WO houses to deal with. Already many thousands^ of the schedules are ready for distribution. Their preparation is no light tasii, sinco each has to be iilled in with the county or borough, the enumerator s number, sub-enumerator's number and the small block or mesh letter. Ilus small block or mesh division of sub-dis-tricts is for tho convenience of tho Electoral Commissioners when they come to adjust the boundaries of electorates. Its method is best exnlaiaed bv reference to the maps supplied by tho Survey Department for sub-enumerators. Each map shows iCicaily boundaries of the. sub-area and in further divided into Blocks lettered A, 1 B, C, D, and so on. Should the Eleetoral Commissioners find that an elee- ! toral district is now too large, having i regard to its population, they can simp- ' !y lift out a mesh or block (tho population of which is given) and transfer the people in that block to tho adjoining electorate.. By the use of this system the electoral districts of Welly)g----i ton have been kept remarkably even in j the matter of population. The system 1 is as simple as a child's game with blocks. COUNTING AND CHECKING. Compilation of all the interesting returns and comparisons of religions, occupations, etc., ii> undertaken by the Statistician's Department, but the simple counting of heads is entrusted to the sub-enumerators. Each man, viien he has gathered in all his sclfbdules, prepares a tally of population under certain heads and of houses, inhabited, uninhabited, and in course of construction. This is cheeked bv tho enumerator, who completes the tally for the district. The Statistician therefore y, ill have only to add up the enumerator's figures (if he does not wish to cheek them first), and lie will be in a 1 position to announce the population of the Dominon. INFORMATION REQUIRED. The household schedule is mainly on the lines of that issued for last census. One of the main of difference is in regard to nationality, concerning which specific information is required.. In regard to profession or occupation the precise nature or the employment and its extent, with a note as to periods of unemployment, is required. As on previous occasions, u census is being taken of p'aces of worship, aid of libraries (number and classification 01" books). Agricultural and pastoral statistics are taken iu the counties each year, but tho census is being used to j obtain this information for the boroughs also.