CO885-5 — Page 292

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TLCO. 885

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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It is suggested that the experience of the method of collecting and compiling the Census of Ireland at each of the four last decennial ('ensus periods, namely, 1851-61. 1871-81, point to a method which with some modifications might be made applicable to an Imperial Census.

In Ireland the statistics for each county are, in the first instance, compiled and arranged separately in a complete set of tables, which, when printed with an intro- duction containing a summary of the results, constitute a complete Census report for each particular county. Each series of county tables issued as a separate pub. lication, so paged that they can be bound into provincial volumes. Thus each county has a miniature Census report for itself, containing all the particulars for that area in a form suitable for local use.

The county tables are summarised by provinces, and there is thus again a compléte Census report for each of the four provinces of Ireland.

The provincial tables are again summarised, and a complete series of abstracts for the whole of Ireland are produced, upon which is based the "General Report of the Census of Ireland.'

The tables in each county book are numbered uniformly, so that when it is desired to refer to any particular subject the statistics relating to that subject will be found tabulated under the same number in each book.

Now, if an uniform system such as that just now described were adopted for each part of the British Empire, a series of tables would be produced which could be all brought into juxta-position, added together, summarised, and compared with one another, so as to constitute the basis of a General Census Report for the whole Empire.

In the case of a great country like India a large number of local books would be necessary; in the Dominion of Canada, Australia, &c. a smaller number; and in very small Colonies single books would be sufficient.

In order to carry out such a proposal as the foregoing, it would be necessary to obtain the co-operation of the authorities in each dependency, under whose statistical departments the special work for each country should be carried out.

In order to collate and arrange the reports for Imperial purposes, an Imperial Census Commission might be appointed, with a central office in London. This Com- mission might consist of the three Registrars-General of the United Kingdom, representatives from the Indian Office, and the Agents-General of the various Colonies. It would be the duty of this Commission to determine upon the subjects concerning which statistics should be collected, the form in which the returns should be made, how the statistics should be tabulated, &c. The Commissioners should, as quickly as possible after the taking of the Census, be furnished with abstracts from each country, to be arranged by them in a preliminary report as the Home Census are at present. The Commission should, at a later period, furnish fuller tables and a more detailed report regarding the principal points upon which they may have obtained information by the Census enumeration.

It would require some three or four years prior to the date of the Census to make the necessary arrangements for an Imperial Census. It has been found that a year is necessary for making the arrangements for a Home Census. assumed that a much longer time would be necessary in the remote and in the larger It may be fairly dependencies. It would take a year to make the necessary preliminary arrange- ments for co-operation between the Governments of the various dependencies, and a further period to obtain the necessary powers from the Imperial and Colonial Legislatures.

THOMAS W. GRIMSHAW.

Dublin, 13th July 1886.

COLONIAL OFFICE to T. W. GRIMSHAW, Esq., REGISTRAR-GENERAL FOR

IRELAND.

SIB.

WITH reference to your letter of the 20th ultimo, enclosing a memorandum

Downing Street, August 4, 1886. relative to the taking of a Colonial Census in 1891, I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to acquaint you that the Colonial Governments were furnished with the same forms and instructions for taking the Census of 1881 that were

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employed in the United Kingdom, and that a mass of information was obtained from the Colonies and communicated to the Registrar-General, which there is reason to suppose was as full, if not fuller, as that obtained from the Colonies on previous

occasions.

It is true that the Reports and Returns of the 1881 Census contain only, on page 112 of Vol. IV., a short tabular statement of the total populations of the different British Colonies and Dependencies; but if you will refer to pages lxxvi-lxxxii, and to pages 231-351 of Vol. IV. of the Reports and Returns of the 1871 Census, you will there find a body of detailed information regarding the Colonies, which it is presumed might have been repeated and amplified from the information obtained in 1881; and I am to suggest that before taking any further steps you should consult the mass of information lying at the Registrar-General's, and that you should consult him as to the necessity for taking any different steps from what have hitherto been taken for obtaining the desired information from the Colonies on the occasion of the next Census.

I am to enclose copies of the circular despatches which were addressed to Colonial Governors preparatory to the Census of 1881.

T. W. Grimshaw, Esq., M.A., M.D.,

Registrar-General, General Register Office,

SIR,

Dublin.

I

ain, &c., (Signed)

R. H. MEADE.

THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL FOR IRELAND to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Charlemont House, Dublin, November 15, 1886. WITH reference to your letter of the 4th of August relative to a memorandum on the subject of the taking of an Imperial Census, which I forwarded to Lorá Granville on the 20th of July 1886, I have to apologise for what may appear to be negligence on my part in not having replied sooner to your communication.

The cause of the delay was that I wished to take the opportunity afforded by a visit to London, to see the Registrar-General of England, if possible, and then further consider the whole question before replying to your letter.

I regret to say I was unable to see the Registrar-General, as he was absent from London on all the occasions during the autumn when I was able to call at his office. I, however, saw Mr. W. Clode, the Secretary to the General Register Office, and Dr. Wm. Ogle, both of whom acted in conjunction with the Registrar-General, as members of the Committee which had charge of the taking of the Census of 1881, and with them discussed the points raised in your letter.

In your letter you refer me to Vol. IV of the Report of the Census of England and Wales for 1871, and point out that the information given there regarding the Colonies is of a more detailed character than that of 1881. I was fully aware of the nature of the information contained in the Report for 1871, and, indeed, it was partly on account of what appeared to me to be the imperfections and want of system in the Colonial tables of that Report, and the fact that similar details were omitted from the Report of 1881, that led me to draw up my memorandum.

was not aware until you kindly called my attention to the fact that similar information to that supplied in 1871 had been again supplied in 1881 to the Registrar- General for England.

At my interview with Mr. Clode and Dr. Ogle, they seemed to be of the opinion that the information furnished in 1881 would not have produced a more satisfactory result than that of 1871, had it been tabulated and abstracted; this is, of course, a matter of opinion. Mr. Clode, however, assigned as the principal reason for not giving more details as to India and the Colonies in the General Report of the Census of 1881, that it appeared to be outside the province of the English Census Office.

This latter reason appeared to me to be a sound one, and is quite in accordance with the principles adopted by me in preparing my memorandum. as I there suggest the appointment of an Imperial Census Commission, the principal of whose duties should be, as quickly as possible after the taking of the Census, and when furnished with abstracts from each country, to “ arrange them in a preliminary report, as the "home Censuses are at present. The Commission should, at a later period, furnish fuller tables, and a more detailed report regarding the principal points upon which they may have obtained information by the Census enumeration."

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