Appendix A: Census (Great Britain) Act, 1910

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APPENDIX A.

Census (Great Britain) Act, 1910. [10 Edw. 7 and 1 Geo. 5. Ch. 27.]


ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS.

Section.—1. Census to be taken in 1911.
       "      2. Central authority for and expenses of census.
       "      3. Enumeration districts and enumerators.
       "      4. Preparation and filling up of schedules.
       "      5. Collection of schedules and returns by enumerators.
       "      6. Enumeration in public institutions, &c.
       "      7. Returns of persons travelling or on shipboard or not in houses.
       "      8. Reports on returns.
       "      9. Power to supply further abstracts to local authorities.
       "      10. Matters to be prescribed by instructions.
       "      11. Power to require enumerators to make statutory declarations.
       "      12. Penalties for offences.
       "      13. Application to Scotland.
       "      14. Extent of Act and short title.


CHAPTER 27.

An ACT for taking the CENSUS for GREAT BRITAIN in the year nineteen hundred and eleven.

[3rd August, 1910.]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of theLords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1.—A census for Great Britain shall be taken in the year nineteen hundred and eleven, and the census day shall be Sunday the second day of April in that year.

Census to be taken in 1911.

2.—(1) The Local Government Board shall superintend the taking of the census.
(2) The Registrar General shall, subject to the approval of the Board, prepare and issue such forms and instructions as he deems necessary for the taking of the census.
(3) The expenses incurred, with the approval of the Treasury, for the purposes of the census, shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament.

Central authority for and expenses of census.

3.—(1) For the purposes of the census every registration sub-district shall be divided into enumeration districts, and an enumerator shall be appointed for each enumeration district.
(2) Overseers and assistant overseers of the poor, relieving officers for poor law unions, and collectors of the poor rate shall, if so required by the Local Government Board, act as and be enumerators for the purposes of this Act.

Enumeration districts and enumerators.

4.—(1) Schedules shall be prepared by or under the direction of the Local Government Board for the purpose of being filled up by or on behalf of the several occupiers of dwelling-houses, with the following and particulars, and no others, namely, particulars as to—

  1. The name, sex, age, profession or occupation, condition as to marriage, relation to head of family, birthplace, and (in the case of a person born abroad) nationality, of every living person who abode in every house on the night of the census day; and
  2. Whether any person who so abode was blind, deaf, dumb, imbecile or lunatic; and
  3. In the case of any person who so abode being married, the duration of marriage, and the number of children born of the marriage, the number of such children living; and
  4. The number of rooms inhabited; and
  5. In the case of Wales or the county of Monmouth, whether any person who so abode (being of three years of age or upwards) speaks English only or Welsh only, or both English and Welsh.

(2) Every enumerator shall, in the course of the week ending on the Saturday next before the census day, leave at every dwelling-house within his enumeration district one or more of these schedules for the occupier thereof, or of any part thereof, and on every such schedule shall be plainly expressed that it is to be filled up by the occupier for whom it is left, and that the enumerator will collect all such schedules within his district on the Monday then next following.
(3) Every occupier for whom any such schedule has been so left shall fill up or cause to be filled up the schedule, to the best of his knowledge and belief, so far as relates to all persons dwelling in the house, tenement, or apartment occupied by him, and shall sign his name thereto, and shall deliver the schedule so filled up and signed to the enumerator when required so to do.
(4) In this section the expression "dwelling-house" shall include every building and tenement of which the whole or any part is used for the purpose of human habitation, and, where a dwelling-house is let or sub-let in different tenements or apartments and occupied distinctly by different persons or families, a separate schedule shall be left with or for and shall be filled up by the occupier of each such distinct tenement or apartment.
(5) For the purposes of this section, a person who is travelling or at work on the night of the census day, and who returns to a house on the morning of the following day, shall be treated as abiding in that house on the night of the census day.

Preparation and filling up of schedules.

5.—(1) Every enumerator shall visit every house in his district, so far as may be possible, on the day next following the census day, and shall collect all schedules so left within his district in the course of the previous week, and shall complete such of the schedules as on delivery thereof appear to him to be defective, and correct such as he finds to be erroneous.
(2) Every enumerator shall also furnish in such forms as may be prescribed particulars concerning the population of houses and other buildings in his district or in any specified portion thereof.

Collection of schedules and returns by enumerators.

6. The governor, master, chief resident officer, manager, or other person in charge of every prison, workhouse, hospital, lunatic asylum, or public or charitable institution, or other large establishment, which may be determined upon by the Registrar General, shall be the enumerator of the inmates thereof, and shall conform to such instructions as may be sent to him by the authority of the Local Government Board for obtaining the returns required by this Act, so far as may be practicable, with respect to the inmates.

Enumeration in public institutions, &c.

7. The Registrar General shall, subject to the approval of the Local Government Board, obtain returns of the particulars required by this Act with respect to persons who during the night of the census day were travelling or on shipboard, or for any other reason were not abiding on that night in any house of which account is to be taken by the enumerators, and shall include these returns in the reports to be made under this Act.

Returns of persons travelling or on shipboard, or not in houses.

8. The Registrar General shall, subject to the approval of the Local Government Board, prepare a preliminary report and a detailed report on the census returns, and each such report shall be printed and laid before both Houses of Parliament at as early a date as may be found practicable.

Reports on returns.

9. The Registrar General may, if and at such time as he thinks fit, at the request and cost of any local authority or any person, cause abstracts to be prepared containing statistical information which can be derived from the census returns but is not supplied by the census report, and which, in his opinion, the authority or person may reasonably require.

Power to supply further abstracts to local authorities.

10.—(1) Instructions issued under this Act may prescribe, among other things :—

  1. The mode in which enumeration districts are to be formed and enumerators appointed; and
  2. The duties of superintendent registrars, registrars, enumerators, and other persons employed under this Act; and
  3. The allowances to be paid to persons employed under this Act; and
  4. The mode in which and the persons by whom the amount of the allowances payable in respect of each registration district is to be certified, and the persons by whom and the mode in which the payments are to be made; and
  5. Anything authorised by this Act to be prescribed.
(2) The scale of allowances payable under this Act shall be subject to the approval of the Treasury.
Matters to be prescribed by instructions.

11. Every enumerator shall make a statutory declaration to the effect that the returns furnished by him in pursuance of this Act or the instructions issued thereunder have been truly amid faithfully taken, and that to the best of his knowledge they are correct so far as may be known, and such declaration may be made before a superintendent registrar or registrar, who for that purpose shall have power to take such statutory declaration as if he were an officer by law authorised to administer an oath.

Power to require enumerators to make statutory declarations.

12.—(1) If any superintendent registrar, registrar, enumerator, or other person employed under this Act, makes wilful default in the performance of any of his duties under this Act, or makes any wilfully false declaration, lie shall for each offence be liable on conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts to a fine not exceeding five pounds.
(2) If any occupier for whom a schedule is left under this Act—

  1. Wilfully refuses, or without lawful excuse neglects, to fill up or cause to be filled up the schedule to the best of his knowledge and belief, or to sign and deliver it as by this Act required; or
  2. Wilfully makes, signs, or delivers, or causes to be made, signed, or delivered, any false return of any matter specified in the schedule; or
  3. Refuses to answer, or wilfully gives a false answer to, any question necessary for obtaining the information required to be obtained under this Act;
He shall for each offence be liable on conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts to a fine not exceeding five pounds.
Penalties for offences.

(3) If any person employed in taking the census communicates, without lawful authority, any information acquired in the course of his employment, he shall be guilty of a breach of official trust within the meaning c. 52. of the Official Secrets Act, 1889, and that Act shall apply accordingly.

52 & 53 Vict.

13. In the application of this Act to Scotland—
(1) "Secretary for Scotland" shall be substituted for "Local Government Board" and "Board"; "Registrar General for Scotland" for "Registrar General" ; "registration district" for "registration sub-district" ; and "poorhouse" for "workhouse";
(2) The schedules under this Act shall include particulars showing whether any person who abode in any house on the night of the census day (being three years of age or upwards) speaks English only or Gaelic only, or both English and Gaelic:
(3) The particulars to be furnished by the enumerators shall show, with respect to each dwelling-house, the number of rooms, including a kitchen (if any) as a room, having a window, not being a window with a borrowed light:

Application to Scotland.

(4) Sheriffs, sheriff clerks, chief magistrates, town clerks, inspectors of poor and assistant inspectors of poor, shall perform such duties as may be prescribed, including, if so prescribed, such duties as were imposed on them by the Census (Scotland) Act, 1890.

53& 54 Vict., c.38

14.—(1) This Act shall not extend to Ireland.
(2) This Act may be cited as the Census (Great Britain) Act, 1910.

Extent of Act and short title.

[The next two pages in the original report contain a reproduction of the census form itself.]

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