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只港公共圖
major task for the Government during the year was the popula- tion and housing census-an operation involving about 21,000 people and more than three years of preparation. Field work began with a marine census, from January 23-26, when some 700 enumera- tors visited boats in all anchorages around Hong Kong. One month later, February 27, more than 17,000 young enumerators moved out into the urban areas and the countryside to begin the land census. By March 9, the enumeration was complete, but this was followed up by a sample census from April 3-5 to measure the accuracy of the census taking. Prior to the main count, an intensive campaign was launched through all the mass media to publicise the event and to gain the co-operation of the public. Six-and-a-half million census forms were printed to ensure there would be no shortage. To speed up the dissemination of the information arising from the census, reports were published in stages dealing with the different aspects of the count. The Government's computer was used for the first time to analyse and tabulate results. It took about four months to actually load the data into the computer and a further three months to compile the results. Despite this seemingly long time, the method employed was much faster than those of former census undertakings. The population on census day, March 9, was 3,948,179.
The photograph on the previous page and those on the following pages show how the team of young enumerators helped make the census a successful operation.
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