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Enclosure.
COPY of a RESOLUTION passed by the COUNCIL of the ROYAL COLONIAL Institute at a Meeting held on Tuesday, February 1, 1887,
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The Council of the Royal Colonial Institute deem it desirable that whenever it is decided to take the next Census of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty's Government and the several Governments of Colonies should consider and endeavour to make arrangements for having the Census of the whole Empire taken on one and the same day, and, as far as practicable, in the same form."
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the Indian Census authorities did in 1881 adopt the classification of Occupations previously used in the United Kingdom, and a perusal of the Indian Census Reports shows how unsuited it was found to be for a country where the conditions of life and the circumstances of the people differ materially from those prevailing in Western Europe.
In short, then, I am distinctly of opinion that it is best to leave to each individual part of the Empire, the choice of the subjects of inquiry that should be included in its Census, and the form in which the information when collected can best be tabulated so as to meet its own special conditions and requirements.
I have, &c., The Under Secretary of State, (Signed) BRYDGES P. HENNIKER.
Colonial Office.
Registrar-General.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.
8855 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, Somerset House, to COLONIAL OFFICE.
General Register Office, February 9, 1887.
SIR,
I BEG to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st instant, enclosing a copy of a communication from the Imperial Federation League, and of a correspon- dence with the Registrar-General of Ireland, and of a printed memorandum by that gentleman as to a scheme for reducing the next Censuses of the United Kingdom, India, and the several Colonies to precisely identical form, so as to allow of simple collation, and the consequent construction of tables relating to the aggregate population of the British Empire.
A copy of Dr. Grimshaw's memorandum had already been forwarded to me by the Local Government Board, and I have, therefore, already given much careful considera- tion to the proposed scheme. The result of such consideration has been that I find myself unable to recommend the adoption of the proposal.
The scheme would certainly involve considerable expense, and the attempt to impose upon the several Colonies and Dependencies uniformity in respect of subjects of inquiry and forms of tabulation would not improbably meet with much opposition, while these evils would, in my opinion, not be compensated by any counterbalancing advantages.
I am not aware that any practical inconvenience whatsoever has been experienced by the want of uniformity between the Censuses of the various Colonies and Dependencies, and I fail to see any utility, practical or scientific, in tables such as are contemplated in the scheme, which should give, to take examples, the age-distribution, the marriage- condition distribution, or the occupational distribution of the aggregate population of the entire Empire.
As regards age-distribution or marriage-distribution, however, though, as I have already said, tables for the aggregate Empire would, in my opinion, be of no possible use, yet such if desired might be prepared, so far as the data permitted without the expensive apparatus of a Special Imperial Census Committee, were the Census autho- rities of each division of the Empire, simply asked by a circular from the Colonial and Indian Offices to tabulate their age and marriage data, as most of them do already. by quinquennial periods.
I may, however, observe as bearing on the utility of an Imperial age-table, that the number of persons in India at the last Census, as to whose age no information could be obtained, was over 24 millions, a number about equal to the entire population of England, and further that the ignorance of the natives of India, especially in advanced life, as to their age, is such, that the Census authorities found it useless to attempt to deal with persons over 60 years of age, who consequently, were tabulated in a single group. When these facts are taken into consideration, with the further fact that the population of British India, concerning whose age-distribution so little can be ascertained, constitutes four-fifths of the entire population of the British Empire, the utility of an Imperial age-distribution table, to which apparently the Imperial Federa- tion League attach much importance, will, I think appear, to say the least, very doubtful.
As regards the Occupational Census, the objections to the proposed attempt at complete uniformity are very much greater. Real uniformity in this matter between populations differing so vastly from each other in their whole organisation, as say Ireland and India, appears to me to be utterly impossible, and mere superficial uniformity, which means the grouping under identical headings, of facts fundamen- tally different, to be.a thing on every ground to be deprecated. As a matter of fact,
SIR,
COLONIAL OFFICE to the ROYAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE.
Downing Street, February 12, 1887.
I AM directed by Secretary Sir Henry Holland to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 2nd instant, enclosing a copy of a resolution dated 1st February 1887, passed by the Council of the Institute, urging the desirability of taking the next Consus of the Empire on one and the same day, and so far as practicable, in the same
'form.
In reply, I am to state to you, for the information of the Council of the Institute, that Her Majesty's Government have always endeavoured to cause such an arrangement to be made, and I am to add that the importance of this principle will not he lost sight. of on the next occasion.
The Secretary to the Royal
Colonial Institute.
SIR,
I am, &c., (Signed)
ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.
COLONIAL OFFICE to IMPERIAL FEDERATION LEAGUE.
Downing Street, February 17, 1887.
WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 1st instant, I am directed by Secretary Sir Henry Holland to transmit to you, for the information of the Executive Committee of the League, a copy of the reply which has now been received from the Registrar-General respecting the proposals of the Registrar-General for Ireland relating to the Census of the United Kingdom, India, and the Colonies.
I am to state that while Sir Henry Holland will be glad to receive any observations which the Executive Committee of the League may desire to make in reply, he does not, as at present advised, think that any good would be gained by his receiving a deputation on the subject.
The Secretary to the Imperial
Federation League.
SIR,
am, &c., (Signed)
R. H. MEADE.
THE ROYAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
Royal Colonial Institute, Northumberland Avenue, London, W.C., March 15, 1887.
I HAVE the honour, by direction of the Council of the Royal Colonial Institute,
to forward you herewith a copy of a resolution which they have adopted in referenco
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