Sessional_Paper_1911 — Page 168

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Table XLII.

Notes for Guidance of Future Census Officers.

1. The Slip System.The particulars about every individual are copied off from the schedules on to small cards. To facilitate the work of tabulation, certain information is conveyed by the colour of or marks on the cards.

For the Non-Chinese Population four kinds of cards were used:-

(1.) Blue, with a dark blue square on the face, for Non-Chinese males, other than

natives of Asia and Africa.

(2.) White, with a yellow cross across the face for females, other than natives of

Asia and Africa.

(3.) White, with a yellow square on the face for Non-Chinese males, other than

natives of Europe and America.

(4.) White, with a yellow circle on the face, for Non-Chinese females, other than

natives of Europe and America.

Ton different cards were used for Chinese, five for tales, and five for females :—

(1.) Plain white, for Chinese married males, Puntis, and born in the Province of

Kwang Tung.

(2.) White, with blue circle on the face of the card, for Chinese males as in (1), but

unmarried.

(3.) White, with blue square on the face of the card, for Chinese males other than

Puntis, boru in the Province of Kwang Tung.

(4.) White, with blue square and cross, for married Chinese males born elsewhere

than in the Province of Kwang Tung.

(5.) White, with blue cross, for unmarried Chinese males born elsewhere than in the

Province of Kwang Tung.

The five descriptions of cards for Chinese females corresponded with those for the males, but the distinguishing symbols were red instead of blue.

The copying of the cards from the schedules took exactly two months. At first the work progressed slowly, as it took the clerks some little time to know which cards to use. When they had learnt to pick out the right card without hesitation, each man was able to do at least 500 per diem. This may. be accepted as a reasonable minimum amount. For any- thing over 500 they were paid at the rate of $1 per 400 cards. Up to a certain point, the greater the number of varieties of cards used the easier the work of tabulation is, but it is necessary to be careful not to go too far in this direction. An undue multiplication of cards would cause such delay in the copying that it would more than outweigh the subse- quent speeding up of the tabulation. I am of opinion that it would not be wise to use more than ten varieties of cards for the Chinese.

When the copying for any particular section has been completed the cards have not, of course, been sorted according to their various classes, but each clerk is in possession of a bundle of cards of several different sorts. The next work is to sort the cards, tie them up into bundles, according to the descriptive marks, and enter the number of cards in each bundle on the back of the top card. The cards for each section must be kept in a separate pigeon-hole. The schedules can be put away. They are no longer required, except, very rarely, for purposes of reference,

When the work of tabulation begins, the distinctive marks greatly facilitate the preparation of some of the Tables. Males and Females can, of course, be distinguished at once. In preparing the Tables for Married State and Dialects Spoken in the Home, the number of married Chinese males and females is available at once, without further counting, except in the case of persons who are not Puntis. Similarly no further sorting is required in order to obtain the number of male and female Puntis, born in Kwang Tung. It is possible occasionally to prepare two or three Tables simultaneously.

2. Enumerators.-These should all be found at least one clear month before the date fixed for the Census. A certain reserve should also be provided, as, out of 200 or more, a few always fail to present themselves.