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94
VI.—LEGISLATION.
During the year several Acts of great sanitary interest were passed or came
into force.
CENSUS (GREAT BRITAIN) ACT, 1900.
63 Vict. ch. 4.
The Act for taking the Census for Great Britain in the year one thousand
nine hundred and one, provided that the Local Government Board shall
superintend the taking of the census. 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. The expenses incurred,
with the approval of the Treasury, for the purposes of the census, shall be
paid out of money provided by Parliament.
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. Overseers of the poor and relieving officers for
poor law unions shall, if so required by the Local Government Board, act as
and be enumerators for the purposes of this Act.
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 particulars, and no others,
namely, particulars showing—
(a) the name, sex, age, profession or occupation, condition as to marriage,
relation to head of family, birth place, and (where the person was born
abroad) nationality of every living person who abode in every house
on the night of the census day ; and
(b) whether any person who so abode was blind or deaf and dumb, or
imbecile or lunatic ; and
(e) where the occupier is in occupation of less than five rooms, the number
of rooms occupied by him ; and
(d) 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.
The Registrar General may, if he thinks fit, at the request and cost of the
Council of any county, borough, or urban district, cause abstracts to be prepared
containing statistical information with respect to the county, borough,
or district, which can be derived from the census returns but is not supplied
by the census report, and which, in his opinion, the Council may reasonably
require.