THE WAIPA POST. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. TUESDAY, 19th JULY, 1930. COUNTING THE PEOPLE.

Waipa Post, Volume 41, Issue 3177, 19 July 1930, Page 4

THE WAIPA POST. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. TUESDAY, 19th JULY, 1930. COUNTING THE PEOPLE.

IT is gradually becoming rra- common? place that the study of economic sfi's development is unlikely to bring satisfactory practical ..'■■-results' unless.. it lis based -011%% broad foundation of,; accurate statistical materia;: I aute-an accurate knowledge .of the <- an? I atomy of the natipnj" .which^nly;tistical inquiry can tile and daneerou^g|J^^^^^Cs:ibi?

an. Anatomy, •itic-isins sonie■awsi the opci'^-fes-MH; •Statistics Ofthat these universally f|it- "as p: as that ■we Jiieiariy^E : i,Sft\uch as .»iyse. and synthetase is KS-i;aVailabie for. us. ||er*6hoinists in other ireciuently

some

i.yes at the op- : portuDtties t\>r study %\hich our Statistics Office offers to New Zealand-ers,and-'..this envy will no doubt be "stimulatedjby the latest volume of the ;L926 Census Report on Incomes. With presses throughout the world pouring'forth a steady stream of literature, it becomes more and difficult to find a • publication which we are justified in describing as unique; this volume, / however, undoubtedly deserves that title. General studies of income distribution have frequently been made" in the Old World, and Australia during the Great War attempted a census of incomes. The results, however, were not very satisfactory, and no other country has ever been able to present such a wealth of material as the Census Office now offers us concerning distributions of incomes, classified according to the industrial status, the occupation, age, sex, geographical location and conjugal condition of the income receivers. Many public and private controversies which involve questions of distribution in one way or another have in the past been rendered futile by the absence of accurate information. This gap can now to a large extent be filled, and one may safely predict that the contents of this volume will provide a rich qubrry for social and economic studies, such as even in New Zealand we have never before had. The value of the volume depends, of course, entirely on the accuracy of the answers which we gave to the census inquiry in 1926. It would be too much to" suppose that these were correct in every instance, but the proportion of those who gave no answer, or whose answer was obviously unsatisfactory, is very small (less than 5 per cent of males' and less than 2 per cent of females), and so far as one can judge by comparison with material collected in other connections and for other purposese, the results here presented seem to be tolerably reliable. The whole population has been classified into seven groups, those without incomes, those with less than £1 per week, those between £1 and £3, between £3 and £4, between £4 and £6, between £6 and £7, and those with more than £7 per week, or £364 per annum. Income tax statistics which give further information about persons in the higher income ranges can be combined with this volume to give a sort of flash-light picture of the distribution of New Zealand's income in 1926, which is fairly complete, except for the absence of detailed information about farmers' incomes exceeding £364 per annum (which were not subject to income tax), and about the distribution of the twelve million odd which was paid out in company dividends. It would not be easy to exaggerate the value for the statesman and the economist of this picture, but its value would be immensely increased if a similar inquiry were to be included in future censuses. Flashlight photographs are useful, but we live in a moving age where the kinematograph has still greater value. From the foregoing point of view the Census Postponement Bill, introduced by the Government with the object of

saving'—or rather putting off—the expenditure of £25,000, can only be reof course, as marking a regrettable selection of an avenue of economy'. - .