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5. District Watchmen.-Allowances to the district watchmen engaged in the Census were paid at the rate of $7 for Head watchmen, and $4 for watchmen. The Head watchmen were not called on to do any preliminary work this year.

6. Clerks. One supervisor and 29 Chinese clerks were originally engaged, of these two were dismissed very early for incompetency, three were discharged to reduce the overcrowing of the office, three resigned, and four were subsequently taken on of whom one resigned almost at once. The supervisor who had served as clerk and interpreter in the last Census received $120 per month, the chief clerk for the non-Chinese section $60 and his assistant $40, the other clerks who only required to know Chinese $30. One clerk assisted at a Census for the 4th time. Owing largely to the stagnation of trade, I had a very large number of applicants to select from, and as care and industry were the chief requisites, it was not difficult to get together in the end a fairly adequate staff. As usual the non-Chinese section proved the weakest, and I had personally to do a very large proportion of the work in this section myself, as well as preparing most of the tables, and classifying the occupations of both sections according to the new classification used in a Hongkong census for the first time. It is very difficult to find temporary Chinese clerks of good character and ability with sufficient experience and knowledge of English for the posts of supervisor and chief clerk of the non-Chinese section, and I strongly recommend that for the next Census two clerks of the permanent service, one 2nd grade and one 4th grade, be temporarily detached for Census duty. Such an arrangement would have saved me a good deal of trouble and anxiety and would probably have considerably expedited the work. Both my senior clerks proved to be men of feeble health, and were absent through sickness for considerable periods, one finally having to resign when the work was half completed, and they were also lacking in the requisite experience.

The attendance of the junior clerks was rather irregular especially in the last half of the time, in spite of the fact that they received no pay for days of absence. In all over 150 working days were lost through absence.

7. Cost. The cost of the Census was $22,146.87 of which $9,307.76 was for print- ing, which had to be executed this year by the Government printers, because the work could not be undertaken at Victoria Gaol as in former years. The cost in 1911 was $9,115 which did not include any printing. The cost for the present Census, considering the great increase in the numbers dealt with and the rise in wages throughout the Colony, and the shorter time required for the Census of the New Territories and Harbour, compares very favourably with that of 1911.

Hongkong, 10th November, 1921.

J. D. LLOYD,

Census Officer.