1856.
VICTORIA.
REPORT
OF T!H:
CENSUS COMMISSION.
PRESENTED TO THE ASSEMBLY BY ORDER OF HIS EXCELLENCY
MAJOR-GENERAL MACARTHUR.
ORDERED TO BE PRINTED, 18TH DECEMBER, 1856.
ti!] autMr:tt!l:
JOHN FERRES, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNE.
A.-No. 30.
CENSUS COMMISSION.
REPORT.
TO HIS EXCE.LLENCY MAJOR-GENERAL MACARTHUR, TIIE OFFICER ADMINISTERING
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA.
THE Commissioners appointed under the authority of your Excellency's warrant for
the purpose of :makiog the preliminary arrangements for taking an account of the population, &c., have now the honor to report upon the mode by which they prGpose that the
numbers and condition of the people shall be taken.
They would direct attention, in the first place, to. the supervisionary duties which
they have requested from the various municipal and other public bodies that are now
formed throughout the country. From communications received from these bodies, the
Commissioners have reason to believe that the required supervision will be cordially
afforded, and with all the anticipated effect in securing for the Commissioners local knowledge and co-operation.
• Their intention with regard to this supervision is, that competent enumerators
may be selected out of each locality by the respective local authorities ; that these enumerators be appointed by and be responsible to the Government ; and that they be paid the
remuneration agreed upon when the local authorities have certified to the Commissioners,
and the Commissioners to the Government, that, in their respective opinions, the work
has been properly accomplished.
Under this plan, the Commissioners have framed a scheme of sub-division for the
whole Colony, by which about nine-tenths of the census enumeration will be alike supervised and taken by local agency. For the remainder of the country, where the Commissioners could not avail themselves of public bodies, they contemplate making direct appointments of the persons who appear to them most competent by their local knowledge of
the particular loca)ities, and by their other experience.
In the plan of sub-division the Commissioners have contemplated two classes of
officers-Head Enumerators and Sub-Enumerators, whose duties will be found detailed in
appendices A and B. They have apportioned the various districts of the former with the
object of leaving the Head Enumerator~ to sub-divide their respective districts into those
of the Sub-Enumerators. Each Sub-Enumerator, it is proposed, shall have an extent of
district sufficient to occupy him one day (Saturday) in the delivery of the schedules, and the
same person it is intended shall collect these schedules on the Monday and Tuesday
following; the object of the Census being to shew the numbers and condition of the people
on the evening of Sunday. By thus employi~g the same person to distribute and collect
the Commissioners conceive that each locality will be better known to its Sub-Enumerators,
while at the same time he is subjected to the check of the.local authorities.
4
The various public bodies whose services have been availed of in this m~nner are:
lst, The Municipalities, where formed, throughout the Colony ; 2nd, The Chief Local Court
of each gold district ; 3rd, The Road Boards where in actual operation.
The other details of arrangement which the Commissioners are engaged in making
will form the subject of a further Heport.
The Commissioners, in conclusion, will allude to the form of letter which they
propose to address to the heads of those public bodies, a copy of which is hereto appended
(Appendix C).
Witness our Hands and Seals this 18th day of December, 1856.
NORMAN CAMPBELL,
Chairman,
W. WESTGARTH,
THOS. H. POWER,
DUNCAN LONGDEN.
5
APPENDIX A.
RULES
FOR ENUl\fERATORS.
1. Any person having accepted the office of Enumerator, and undertaken to perform its duties, is
reminded that, unless incapacitated by illness, if he declines to act, or absents himself, he is liable to
punishment by fine for such default, in accordance with the provisions of the Census Act.
2. The Enumerator will, as soon as possible after his appointment has been notified to him, send
in to the Commissioners ONE of the two maps of his district, which will be furnished to him for the purpose, marked by him so as to show the proposed subdivision of his diStrict. He will also at the same time
send in the names of such persons, well acquainted with the district, as are willing to undertake the duties
of Sub-Enumerators.
3. The Enumerator will be careful to ascertain that the Sub-Enumerators understand the rate of
remuneration proposed by the Commissioners.
4. If from any unforeseen circumstances an Enumerator should unexpectedly, at the last moment,
be deprived of the services of a Sub-Enumerator, or within too short a time before the appointed time for
the census being taken to enable him to communicate with the Commissioners, he must either act himself
for the district which is thus left without a Sub-Enumerator, or must employ the fittest person he can
induce to act on so short a notice.
5. The enumerator will point out on the map to the Sub-Enumerators the boundaries of their
respective districts, will deliver them their Schedules, and a copy of the Regulations for Sub-Enumerators,
and see that each understands how the business of Sub-Enumerator is to be performed. He will of course
afford them every information and explanation in his power ; and on points which seem to him
unexplained or doubtful, will communicate with the Census Commissioners.
6. The l!Jnumerator will obtain from every person selected and appointed to be a Sub-Enumerator
of his district, a written acceptation of the office of Sub-Enumerator as follows :- .
"I hereog accept the office of Suo-Enumerator for the District, No.
(Signerl)
"Date" Witnes8Warning him at the same time that he will not be at liberty, after accepting, to decline the office,
or avoid the performance of. its duties; and that in the event of his subsequently declining, wilfully
absenting himself, or neglecting his duty, he will be liable to a fine for such default in accordance with
the provisions of the Census Act.
7. The Enumerator will send in to the office of the Census Commissioners, with as little delay as
possible, the Schedules.he has received from the different Sub-Enumerators of his district. Before doing
so, however, he will carefully examine them, and state whether from his knowledge of the district, he
,believes the Schedules and Sub-Enumerators' returns to be correct; and if otherwise, his reasons for
entertaining that opinion.
8. The Enumerator must submit the returns, but not the Schedules, to the Municipal Council or
other ·Local Body in his district, in order that they may certify to their correctness or otherwise.
9. The Enumerator will inform the Commissioners with as little delay as possible, of the number
of Schedules likely to be required in his district, in order to guide the Commissioners in the distribution
of them.
10. The Enumerators are to take proper steps in counection with the Protectors, for ascertaining
the number and sex of the Chinese, and such other of the particulars contained in the Householder's
Schedule as are attainable.
U. The Enumerators will forward to the Census Office by post, wherever practicable, the Schedules
and all papers connected with the Census, taking care to make up the parcels in conformity with the
Post Office Regulations regarding weight.and size, and to obtain receipts for the papers from the Postmasters br other persons forwarding them, which receipts they will at once transmit to the Census Office.
APPENDIX B.
RULES FOR SUB-ENUMERATORS.
1. Any person having accepted the office of Sub-Enumerator, and undertaken to perform its duties
is reminded that, unless incapacitated by illness, if he declines to act, absents himself, or neglects hi~
duties, he is liable to punishment by fine for such default, in accordance with the provisions of the
Census Act.
.
2. Any person, before he can act as Sub-Enumerator, will be required to sign the following
declaration : .
"I herebg accept the Office of Suo-Enumerator for the Di8trict, No.
(Signe<l)
"Dat" Witne88Which declaration will be forwarded by the Enumerator to the Commissioners.
3. The Sub-Enumerator will, on leaving the Householder's Schedule at the different houses of his
district, give any information that may be required of him by the inhabitants. He must, moreover,
where practicable, on the day he has left the .Schedule, forward to the Enumerator of the district a
return showing the number of Schedules he has distributed in his district.
I
6
4. The Sub-l<lnumerator must, on Saturday, 28th February, leave at every house, or portion of a
house separately occupied, ·a Householder's Schedule, for which Schedule he must call on the Monday
and Tuesday following. He must examine the Schedules, and see that they are properly filled in, and in
the event of their not being complet<l, will ask for such information as will emtble him to complete them.
When possible, he will obtain this information from the master or mistress of the house.
5. The Rub-Enumerator
forward to the Enumerator, as soon as ppssible, and by post when
pracl;icable (taking receipts for delivery from the Postmaster, and observincr the Post OJ:Iice Regulations
regarding-weight and size of parcels), all the Householders' Schedules he h;s collected.
.
6.. In ease of refusal to make a written return, or to answer such questions as the Sub-Enumerator
1s authortsed to put, he may remind persons so refusing of the penalty to which they are tiable for that
offence, and shew them the clause of the Census Act having reference to it. He may also warn persons
·
whom he suspects of wilfully giving false information of the penalty for that offence.
7. If a house is found locked. up, and a return of the inmates of that house left with a neighbour,
the house may be considered as visited.
.
8. The Sub-Enumerator must not omit to enter persons on his Schedule whenever he cannot
obtain all the information that may be' required respecting them. If, for example, ·he·can learn no. more
than that a person, who has since gone away, and whose name -is unknown, slept in the house on the 1st
instant, he must set such person down in the Schedule as "Not known."
9. The Sub-Enumerators are instructed to ascertain as nearly as possible the number and sexes of
.
the Aborigines who may be within their respective districts.
·10. The Sub-Enumerator will be particular in noting the number of persons who camped out
within his district on the night of the lst lVIarch·. He will enter their names, &c., on his Schedule,
taking care previously to ascertain that they have not been already accounted for in any other SubEnumerator's district.
·
will
APPENDIX C.
CENSUS COMMISSION.
Oircula1· Lette1··to 1lbmicipal and otlwr Local Bodies.
Census Office,
'Nielbourne,
December, 1856.
l. The Commissioners being anxious to avail themselves of the local information attd influence of
various public bodies now established throughout the country, as one important. mode for securing an
accurate and satisfactory census, I am requested to solicit your valuable co-operation for
2. In their communications hitherto with these various public bodies, the Commissioners have
experienced the greatest readiness to :forward their views, and I therefore address to you the following
instructions, in full confidence that you will co-operate in this national undertaking.
3. The duties on your part are chiefly of a supervisory character. They will consist in selQcting
the Enumerators, agreeing to the remuneration, and in finally certifying that the enumeration appears to
have been properly performed.
.
4. The Commissioners propose that the Census shall be taken for the night of Sunday, _the lst of
March next. They have decided, that as a general rule, all the schedules be deliyered to the householders
on the Saturday, and after being filled. up on the Monday morning, that they be called for on that arid the
following day. The work will thus bo accomplished by the labor of three days only. This rule cannot,
of course, apply to every part of the country, and exceptionary places, as cases with a very thin and
scattered population, must be dealt with by local experience.
·
.
5. · 'l'his general plan can be carried out only bjr a. carefu! subdivision of districts, and by an
adequate staff of competent Enumerators. Arranging the employ& into Head Enumerators and SubEnumerators, it is considered that the former may be able to take charge of from thirty to fifty of the
latter, and that the number of schedules confided to each Sub-Enumerator should be as many as he may
be able to deliYer within one day.
6. The first and most important step in which the Commissioners look for your assistance,. is
competent pers0ns to act as the Head Enum~~rators. These
in thE~ selection of
Enumerators, who are supposed to be local residents, posses~ing adequate local knowledge shall
afterwards subdivide their respective districts .into Sub-Enumerators' divisions, and select their SubEnumerators, who should also, if possible, be residents of the sub-districts within which they are
to act. The members of the Survey Staff, wherever situated, are instructed to render every assistance in
sub-dividing the country, and the further !Jid of a map of Y!)Ur diYision is herewith.enclosed.
The Commissioners being desirous that the members of public bodies should aid in the supervision of the Head
Enumerators' and Sub-Enumerators' proceedings, and in fixing the rates of remuneration, .it is not advisable that any member of such body should act either as Head-Enumerator or Sub-Enumerator within the ·
distri\)t under his supervision. But this always supposes that the services of others equally suitable are to
be procured.
.
7. All arrangements will be made under your supervision, and the names of Head Enumerators
and Sub-l<lnumerators, together with the scheme of sub-division, and the rates of pay for which the
services of competent persons can be obtained, should be promptly sent to the Commissioners for th<':ir
approval and confirmation. It is necessary that the persons employed should be formally appointed by
the Governor, that t.he penalties of the Act may be enforced in case of need.
8. On the subject of an adequate remuneration the evidence given to the Commissioners has
been so exceedingly various, that they do not think it advisable to lay down any general rule, nor to
specify rates of pay, further than to state that they will recommend the authorisation of such scale as you
propose within the following limits ;-To the Head Enumerator, the sum .of £
To Sub-Enumerators acting on horseback £3 10 0 per diem
£2 0 0 per diem
To Sub-Enumerators acting on foot
7
This' you" will observe, is the maximum. Should the services of competent persons be obtainable,
and, ·in your opinion, adaquately remunerated with a less sum, you will, of course, bear in mind the
wish of the Commissioners to procure the Census with as small an outlay as possible consistently with
the employment of the most competent Enumerators and Sub-Enumerators, and without trying any
system of under-payment. Much may be done to economise expense by a careful and judicioua arrangement of the Sub-Enumerators' districts, so that each person may be allotted a full measure of work, as
,well as a suitable remuneration.
, , 9. The present boundaries of counties, parishes, electoral districts, municipalities, or other sections of the Colony which have a permanent or local significance, must be clearly distingnished, so that
the population of each may be llrought out in the Census Returns.
10. The Commissioners request that you will reply as soon as possible to this communication,
and furnish them with the names of the Head Enumerators. They propose upon receipt of that
advice to confirm the Head Enumerators' appointments, and to authorise these to employ SubEnumerators at such rates of 1pay as your advices may guide them in deciding on. At your earliest
convenience after receipt of this confirmation the Comlnissioners will feel obliged for all particulars of
names of Sub-F:numerators and of subdivisional arrangement. Should, however, any circumstance
prevent your co-operation, they will expect an immediate intimation to that effect.
I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
By Authority' JOHN. FERRES, Government Printel', Melbourne.