Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/350

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338
CENSUS

the houses under three headings, and distinguishing the sexes of the population, additional columns showing area, number of electors, and of members within the parlia mentary limits, including and excluding represented boroughs, petty sessional divisions, wards of municipal boroughs, comparative tables of houses and population in 1861 and 1871, tables showing the number of families in each civil parish and township, and results showing the

residue of area and population in mother parishes.

Also under " registration counties" many new particulars were published in 1871, such as maps of counties and districts, showing the population of large towns, and the particulars as to reformatory and industrial schools, aud as to Her Majesty s ships.

The census of Ireland in 1871 was taken by the Registrar-General of Ireland, assisted by two other com missioners, W. R. Wilde and G. W. Abraham. The enumeration (except in the metropolis, in which 178 of the Dublin Metropolitan Police discharged that duty) was effected by 4536 members of the Royal Irish Constabu lary, whose local knowledge and previous experience as enumerators on three former occasions rendered them peculiarly well suited for this undertaking. The country was divided into 248 districts, each under the charge of a sub-inspector. Printed instructions were furnished, and, when necessary, the enumerators were supplied with maps, conveyances, boats, and in the Irish-speaking districts with interpreters also. In conformity with the Census Act an abstract of the census of Ireland was published on 14th June 1871, showing the number of houses, families, and population in each county and city. aud in certain corporate towns in Ireland. The numbers in the different religious professions were also returned as directed by the Act. The revised and final numbers, for Ireland record the population in 1871 at 5,412,377, showing a decrease since 1861 of 386,590 or 6 67 per cent. In the previous decenniad, 1851-61, the population had decreased by 753,418, or 11 50 per cent. The decrease in the population of 1871 is stated to be chiefly attributable to emigration. From 1st May 1851 to 31st March 1871 the loss by emigration amounted to 2,024,609. Results relating to the ages, civil conditions, occupations, birth places, religion and education of the people are published in the census returns for Ireland ; and instructions were issued by the Government, directing that the results of the census of 1871 for each of the three divisions of the kingdom should be published, with a view to uniformity. Some of the principal results have thus been assimilated in 1871, but there is still a considerable want of uniformity, especially as regards^ the ages of children in Ireland. A volume devoted entirely to vital statistics is not the least interesting of the results of the census of Ireland in 1871.

As regards Scotland, the results of the census of 1871 are nearly uniform with those of England. In addition to the ordinary particulars, inquiries were made as to the number of children from five to thirteen years of age receiving education, and the number of rooms with windows. This census was taken by the Registrar-General of Scotland and Dr Stark, through the agency of 1016 local registrars, assisted by 8342 enumerators, whose appointments were approved by the sheriffs in counties, land by the chief magistrates in boroughs. The returns for Scotland in 1871 contain some new features, such as the ecclesiastical sub divisions of civil counties, grouping the population of each civil county into three great divisions, according as they inhabited towns, villages, or rural parts ; the particulars as to houses, families, and population relative to parlia mentary constituencies of counties are also new. As there were no registration districts in 1851, no attempt was made in 1861 to show the relative increase or decrease of the population from 1851. But in the census of 1871, this want was supplied by giving the number of the population in each district for 1861, for comparison with that of 1871. The number of children from five to thirteen years of age in the receipt of education also appears for the first time in the returns for 1871.

The census of the Island of Man and of the Channel Islands was taken by the lieutenant-governors according to directions issued by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, but the forms and instructions were issued by the Registrar-General of England. The population of these islands on the aggregate in 1871 was 144,638, viz.: Isle of Man 54,042, Jersey 56,627, and Guernsey and adjacent islands 33,969. No census of the Isle of Man was taken earlier than that of 1821, when 40,081 persons were enume rated. Enumerations of the inhabitants of Jersey were made in 1806 and in 1815, in which years the population was respectively returned as 22,855 and 22,763. The first census of Guernsey, (fee., was taken in 1821, and was 20,302. The population of these islands has remained nearly stationary at the last three censuses.

The cost of the census, incurred at the central office, and in payment of local officers in each of the three countries in 1871, was 5, 5s. 7

The results of the census of 1871 are multitudinous, and it is impossible here to enumerate all the facts of interest which the returns disclose. Those relating to parliamentary constituencies show that of 95 counties, or divisions of counties, the population had increased since 1861 in 82, while in 13 the population had decreased. Out of 198 boroughs which returned members to Parliament the popu lation had increased in 156, while in 31 the population had decreased. In the year 1868 the boundaries of 68 boroughs were altered, and in some of these the increase of population may be due to enlarged area. Eleven boroughs had been formed since 1861. Some of the elaborate results afford the means of solving important questions relating to the industrial organization of the country, and show to what extent there has been a diminution in the numbers employed in the cultivation of the soil, and to what extent there has been a consolidation of farms, affecting the average size of the holdings. Other results show the ages of the married and unmarried population, and these, combined with the returns of the ages at marriage, furnish the means of determining very important questions, such as the probable duration of the joint lives of husband and wife, the annual rate of marriage at different ages, and so on. Tables showing the number of foreigners resident in England and Wales, and the number of British residents abroad, throw much light on many points relating to the social condition of the people. Not the least useful of the results is an interpolated table of the population at each year of age, furnishing school-boards with the means of ascertaining the proportional number of children at the school ages, and enabling life insurance offices and scientific and other authorities to solve many important problems.

(w. f.)


Census of the United States.


The census in the United States is a political necessity. To this, and not to the general appreciation of the claims of statistical science is due the fact that the systematic periodical enumeration of inhabitants was there undertaken earlier even than in England.

Had the government set up in 1787 been a pure con

federation, like that which preceded it, into which the States entered as equal bodies, the census would not have

been a condition of its existence ; while rude estimates